Today’s Matchup – August 1, 2011

Today marks the first time the Rockies will play at Coors Field without their ace in nearly 5 years. Will Dan O’Dowd strike gold again with a monster deal everyone hates? We’ll see. Will the Rockies’ rotation get bolstered by Drew Pomeranz and Alex White? If they live up to the hype, no question. Watch for profiles coming on them soon.

We won’t see them in the lineup for at least a month. As for now, the Rockies head into a nice long (and very critical) homestand 10 games back of the Giants with a little under two months to go. It’s not impossible, but it’d take an act of Larry Walker to get the Rockies to October now.

Here are today’s lineups

68-39
Games Ahead: 6 (NL East)
Games Left: 55
Streak: Won 3
Last 10: 7-3
Magic Number:  49

Philadelphia Phillies
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Shane Victorino, CF
Chase Utley, 2B
Ryan Howard, 1B
Hunter Pence, RF
Raul Ibanez, LF
Placido Polanco, 3B
Carlos Ruiz, C
Cole Hamels, P

 51-57
Games Back: 10 (NL West), 11.5 (Wild Card)
Games Left: 54
Streak: Lost 1
Last 10: 4-6
Elimination Number: 45

Colorado Rockies
Eric Young, Jr., LF
Dexter Fowler, CF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Ty Wigginton, 1B
Chris Nelson, 3B
Seth Smith, RF
Chris Iannetta, C
Jhoulys Chacin, P

First pitch is set for 6:40 pm Mountain time from Coors Field in Denver, though as of 6pm, the tarp was on the field in LoDo. On TV, ROOT Sports will cover the game in the Rocky Mountain region, while CSN will have the game in Philadelphia. On the radio, 850 KOA will have the game in the Denver metro area, while WPHT 1210 will have the game in Philadelphia.