Los Angeles @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( May 29, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 3, Colorado 11
One year ago today, Carlos Gonzalez was tearing up the minor leagues and still a week away from being recalled by the Colorado Rockies.
Now Gonzalez is doing a great job of wreaking havoc in the major leagues.
Gonzalez is quickly becoming one of the top hitters in the National League and leads host Colorado against the Los Angeles Dodgers in today’s finale of a three-game series.
Gonzalez is batting .318 with a team-leading 32 RBIs. He hit his seventh homer of the season during Colorado’s 11-3 trouncing of the Dodgers on Saturday. Miguel Olivo and Seth Smith share the team leadership of eight homers.
No matter what the situation or the pitcher, the left-handed hitter produces, best attested by the fact that Gonzalez is hitting .367 against left-handers entering today’s game.
The 24-year-old Gonzalez was acquired from Oakland as part of the package that sent Matt Holliday to the Athletics after the 2008 season. He has quickly displayed that he plans to be a fixture in the Rockies’ lineup.
Gonzalez batted .284 with 13 home runs last season after his recall. He opened eyes in the postseason by terrorizing the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series. Gonzalez batted .588 (10-of-17) and had multiple hits in all four games.
He picked up right where he left off at the start of this season and has been Colorado’s most consistent offensive player through the first 49 games of the season.
Gonzalez will face a tough lefty today in Clayton Kershaw, who has been on a tear for the Dodgers.
Kershaw has allowed just two earned runs in his four starts, a span covering 28 1/3 innings. He won the first three of those starts before taking the loss against the Chicago Cubs in his most recent outing despite allowing just one unearned run in six innings.
Kershaw pitched eight shutout innings against Colorado on May 9, giving up two just hits while handing Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez (9-1) his lone loss of the season.
Overall, Kershaw is 4-3 with a 2.90 earned-run average. He has struck out 63 in 59 innings.
Jhoulys Chacin (3-2) will oppose Kershaw. He had an outstanding effort against the Dodgers one day prior to Kershaw’s exceptional performance.
Chacin pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings in an 8-0 win over the Dodgers. He struck out seven, which ties for his season high in that category.
Chacin has a 3.09 ERA and has pitched six or more innings in three of his five starts.
Though the Dodgers experienced a rare loss to the Rockies – they are 17-6 against Colorado since the start of the 2009 season – they did find a bright spot in the offensive play of shortstop Rafael Furcal.
Furcal had been 1-for-13 since returning from the disabled list (hamstring) before going 3-for-4 on Saturday.