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