Rockies At Dodgers, September 30 2012: Game Time, Lineups, And Preview

Rockies at Dodgers, 2:10 P.M. MT

It was on the final weekend of the 2009 season that Jorge De La Rosa pitched in a game in Dodgers stadium with a chance to help propel the Rockies to their first ever division title. Granted, it was going to take a perfect weekend in one of the most difficult road venues to do it, but Rockies fans couldn’t help but hope, especially with the studly De La Rosa going for his 17th win in Saturday’s affair. The Rockies lost, and in the process De La Rosa injured himself and arguably derailed the Rockies’ hopes for a run in the playoffs.

Jonesin’ for fried chicken. Image: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Three years later De La Rosa will once again make a start in Los Angeles during the final weekend of the regular season. The similarities truly end there. For one thing the newly structured MLB schedule means that the regular season ends on Wednesday instead of Sunday, so the Rockies play three more games after this. For another thing the Rockies could not be further out of contention, making this match-up one that consists of many players who probably should not be in the big leagues yet but have been forced up by necessity.

For an example, see Rafael Ortega. Due to Tyler Colvin‘s injured elbow, Ortega has been called up from the instructional league. He will start in center field and bat second. Troy Renck explains:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/TroyRenck/status/252459533253881856″]

Here is the rest of the Rockies lineup:

Josh Rutledge SS
Rafael Ortega CF
Jordan Pacheco C
Andrew Brown RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Charlie Blackmon LF
Matt McBride 1B
DJ LeMahieu 2B
Jorge De La Rosa P

As far as the Dodgers are concerned, the Rockies have done the same thing for them that they did for the Diamondbacks earlier this month: they have resuscitated their playoff hopes. With only 4 games to play and coming off two straight wins over the historically hapless Rockies, the boys in blue are still clinging to hope as they are within 2 games of the St. Louis Cardinals and the second Wild Card spot. Here is their lineup for today as they go for the sweep:

Mark Ellis 2B
Shane Victorino LF
Matt Kemp CF
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Hanley Ramirez SS
Luis Cruz 3B
Andre Ethier RF
AJ Ellis C
Josh Beckett P

The Rockies were able to spoil Beckett’s Dodgers debut in Coors Field earlier this season. It will be a tall task to beat him today given the stakes of the situation and the lopsidedness of the lineups. But, as always with baseball, stranger things have happened…