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Pivotal series will set the tone for September.

The top two teams in the NL West will be colliding on Tuesday evening as the Colorado Rockies, fresh off of a victory against San Francisco, will now be hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The significance of the 3 game series is that Colorado are currently 3 games back of the Dodgers as September baseball and pennant races heat up.  With the way that Colorado have been playing, it is hard to imagine them not overtaking the lead in the NL West in the near future.

For now, let's look at tonight's pitching matchup first.

The Dodgers are sending out youngster Clayton Kershaw who has a mediocre record at 8-7 although he has a sharp ERA at 2.96.  Kershaw has not looked good at all in his August starts as he has failed to pick up a win this month while failing to complete the fifth inning in 3 of his 4 starts.  Kershaw is a lefty and the Rockies do worse against the southpaws than they do against the righties so that is a point to keep in mind.

For the Rockies, Jason Hammel will be on the hill.  Hammel is also 8-7 but his ERA is weak at 4.54.  He has won three of his last four starts but those wins look more like offensive wins than defensive ones as he has only pitched well in one of those outings.  He is a right hander and the Dodgers feast on the righties.

This game is so important to the Rockies that you have to think that if Hammel isn't on tonight then he won't be on the mound very long.  Keeping in mind that Los Angeles is the weaker team of late, having lost 17 of their last 30 games, our recommendation is to go with the Rockies to win here.  They are the home team and they been consistently winning lately.

At Players Only the Rockies are slight home underdogs, set at even odds.

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