Rockies Lineups, May 13 2012: Ted Lilly is Mean

Ever since the Rockies made the playoffs a couple times and actually got my hopes up that they can consistently be a good baseball team, there is a short list of players who I absolutely dread seeing. These are the players who torture the Rockies, and me by extension, for an entire grueling series every time I see them. Sometimes it is frustrating because the players are bad against everyone else but good against the Rockies. James Loney, who they will see today, is a great example of this kind of foe.

Then there are the guys who are pretty good against everybody else and great against the Rockies. If you made a team out of those guys, Ted Lilly might be the co-captain with Freddie Freeman. At the very least, he would be a #1 or #2 starter for them.

With their offense already in the pits, the Rockies will try to ignite their offense against Lilly. Jim Tracy has moved Troy Tulowitzki to the 5th spot in the lineup after his struggles to come through in the clutch in recent weeks. Here is the rest of the lineup:

Marco Scutaro 2B
Tyler Colvin 1B
Carlos Gonzalez LF
Michael Cuddyer RF
Troy Tulowitzki SS
Ramon Hernandez C
Chris Nelson 3B
Dexter Fowler CF
Alex White P

As the groundswell of support for Colvin continues to gather momentum, he is faced with a tough task today. Batting 2nd, left on left against Lilly, might be something that exposes flaws in his swing that have been somewhat hidden up to this point. If I was a Dodgers fan and I saw that my team was going to face Nelson, Fowler, and the pitcher in a given inning, I would be pretty psyched.

Alex White is tasked with picking up where Nicasio left off and giving the Rockies a chance to win. His margin for error will be tiny against Lilly. Here is the lineup he will face:

Tony Gwynn Jr. LF
Mark Ellis 2B
Matt Kemp CF
Andre Ethier RF
James Loney 1B
A.J. Ellis C
Adam Kennedy 3B
Justin Sellers SS
Ted Lilly P

Dare we call this a Sunday lineup? Out with Juan Uribe, Bobby Abreu and Dee Gordon. In with Kennedy, Gwynn, and Sellers. Hopefully the Rockies can take advantage and avoid the sweep.

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