Early this month, the Colorado Rockies actually possibly had a chance to claim their very first National League West title but that possibility is out the door now. They are going into tonight’s game in hopes that they can at least keep themselves in the playoffs.

Most oddsmakers currently have the Rockies listed as favorites for the Tuesday night game. They are currently in third place for the wild-card race. The Rockies are four games behind the San Diego Padres and four and a half games behind the Atlanta Braves.

In case you’ve missed some of the news about the Rockies this month, they had a winning streak of 10 games, which is what moved them to the lead in the West above San Francisco and even San Diego on September 12; however, they have now dropped back five games behind the Giants, who are currently leading the division, because of losing nine out of 13 games. Now, the Rockies have six games to make up any room they possibly can.

Monday, the Rockies lost to the Dodgers for the opening game of this three-game series in Denver with a final score of 3-1.

Jeff Francis will be given the ball on Tuesday night for the Rockies. He is currently 4-6 with an earned run average of 4.71 and has lost two consecutive starts since being activated from the disabled list, which he was on due to tightness in the shoulder. The LHP allowed three runs as well as six hits in his last loss to Arizona and the prior loss to that on May 28 against the Dodgers, he gave up five runs over 5 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers will give the ball to Hiroki Kuroda who is 11-13 with an earned run average of 3.27. This could be close to the last start for this pitcher with his three-year contract coming to an end at the end of this 2010 MLB season. A huge possibility for Kuroda is a return to Japan. The RHP was in for eight innings last Thursday against the San Diego, in a 3-1 win, allowing the Padres to only claim one run and just five hits. He retired 14 of the 15 faced batters.

Against the Rockies, Kuroda is at a not-so-good 0-4 with an earned run average of 6.25. Colorado is one of the National League teams that he has yet to be able to defeat with the second team being the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Rockies are in favor when it comes to hitting against Kuroda. Troy Tulowitzki is 4 for 19 with a single home run against the Dodgers’ starting pitcher. He is also just two homers from matching both Albert Belle and Babe Ruth for the all-time September record totaling 17 runs. He also is just three runs batted is shy of matching Ruth for the most RBIs in the month, which is 43. Against the Dodgers, Carlos Gonzalez is batting a .346 average with five home runs and 16 runs batted in and is currently the top hitter in the National League at .340.

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