Padres At Rockies, August 31 2012: Game Time, Lineups, And Preview

San Diego Padres at Colorado Rockies, 6:40 P.M. MT

Tonight the Rockies open a home series with the San Diego Padres. While it might seem that this is an insignificant series between 4th and 5th place teams, I can state with some certainty that it is worth more than that from the Rockies’ perspective, and presumably from the Padres’ perspective as well.

Colorado will look to continue its success with its paired pitching system and with the positive progress of one Alex White. They will have to do so without the services of Dexter Fowler, who is a late scratch with a troublesome ankle. They will face left-handed starter Clayton Richard, who has become a familiar foe at this point. Odds are Jim Tracy wanted Tyler Colvin out of the lineup for that reason, but he is a late addition because of Fowler. Here is the Rockies lineup:

Josh Rutledge SS
Jordan Pacheco 3B
Carlos Gonzalez LF
Wilin Rosario C
Chris Nelson 3B
Andrew Brown RF
Tyler Colvin CF
DJ LeMahieu 2B
Alex White P

Bud Black, managing the 4th place Padres, will counter with the following lineup. Considering what some people expected from the Padres this season, it’s a solid group:

Everth Cabrera SS
Will Venable RF
Chase Headley 3B
Carlos Quentin LF
Yasmani Grandal C
Yonder Alonso 1B
Logan Forsythe 2B
Cameron Maybin CF
Clayton Richard P

If you had asked me in July, I probably would have guessed that Headley would no longer be a member of the Padres for this game. It turns out they did not trade him and the Fountain Fort Carson product gets to enjoy another homecoming in this series.