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Dodgers Have Tall Order in Finale With Rockies

If the Dodgers are going to win their eighth straight series against the Rockies, they will have to do so against one of the best pitchers in baseball today.  Ubaldo Jimenez has made six starts this season, and won them all, and has a sparkling 0.87 ERA (and 2.19 FIP) in the early going.

For all the talk about how Clayton Kershaw turned things around after last April -- and he did -- Jimenez has been even better.  The Dodgers roughed up Ubaldo in back-to-back starts last April, but once May started he turned a corner:

Since May 1, 2009
Pitcher G GS W-L IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP
Jimenez 35 35 20-9 240.1 186 75 72 84 223 2.70 1.123
Kershaw 33 32 9-8 180.2 128 55 53 104 195 2.64 1.284

The Dodgers beat the Rockies in four of the five times Jimenez started against them last season, but fitting with the pattern, he got progressively better as the season wore on:

Ubaldo Jimenez 2009 Starts vs LA
Date IP H R ER BB K Result
Apr 19 4.1 7 7 7 4 3 LA 14-2
Apr 25 4.0 8 6 6 4 3 LA 6-5
May 27 6.2 9 5 4 2 5 LA 8-6
June 29 7.0 5 2 2 1 4 LA 4-2
October 2 6.0 2 1 1 4 10 Col 4-3

Amazing Andre

Andre Ethier is hitting an eye-popping .475/.515/.934 at home this season, with eight home runs in 15 games.  He is also in the midst of a nine-game hitting streak, during which he has 18 hits in 35 at-bats, including four doubles and five home runs.  Ethier is hitting .514/.553/1.057 during the streak, which encompasses the entire homestand to date.

Game Time: 1:10pm

TV: Prime Ticket

Baseball Reference Preview | Box Score | Gameday