Colorado Rockies vs Los Angeles Dodgers, Series Preview

May 11, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Scott Van Slyke (33) is greeted by teammates after hitting a three-run walk-off home run against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers defeated the Marlins 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies head a little ways north from Anaheim for the weekend, playing the Los Angeles Dodgers in a four-game set beginning Thursday night.

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Because they just can’t get enough of the Los Angeles Dodgers or something, the Colorado Rockies find themselves once again in L.A. to take on the best in the NL West, and their two aces, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Watch me jump for joy about this series.

Here are the probable pitchers for this weekend’s three-game set, plus some notes in our series preview:

DATES, TIMES, AND PITCHERS

Friday, May 14, 8:10 pm
Chad Bettis (0-0, -.–) vs. Brett Anderson (2-1, 3.52)

Friday, May 15, 8:10 pm
Eddie Butler (2-3, 3.73) vs. Clayton Kershaw (1-2, 4.26)

Saturday, May 16, 7:10 pm
Jorge De La Rosa (0-2, 9.56) vs. Zack Greinke (5-0, 1.52)

Sunday, May 17, 2:10 pm
Kyle Kendrick (1-4, 7.65) vs. TBD (0-0, -.–)

KEYS FOR THE ROCKIES

Chad Bettis.

The Rockies dumped a starter who couldn’t throw strikes in Tyler Matzek, and now it’s imperative the one that they replaced him with – Chad Bettis – can be effective on Thursday evening. Bettis had been throwing well in Albuquerque, but it’s a big jump to the big leagues, especially for someone of Bettis’ track record, and against an opponent like the Dodgers.

Block out the talk.

Tulo, Tulo, Tulo. Get ready for two more months of that through the trade deadline, because it’s not going to stop unless (a) Tulo gets traded, or (b) Tulo gets injured. With that being said, how will he – and the team – block all that out, even on the day where he is supposedly meeting with his agent for that alleged “should we ask for a trade” discussion? It’d be a hell of a time to lead the offense on the road against a good club.

KEY NUMBER

6-18.

Dating back to the start of last year, the Rockies are 6-18 against the Dodgers, their worst record against any opponent since the beginning of 2014. In fact, they haven’t even won a game at Dodger Stadium since April 27, 2014 – a streak of nine consecutive losses. I know, the Dodgers have been very good in that time frame. But the Rockies need to show they can at least play a little bit on the road, or else this four-game series is going to get very old, very quickly.

Let’s Meet The Dodgers

We literally just saw the Dodgers. So here’s what I wrote in last week’s “Let’s Meet the Dodgers” segment, because it all really kind of holds true, except for some minor notes we’ll review below:

"Yasiel Puig is on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues and will not be around this series.Alex Guerrero won National League Rookie of the Month in April. Pretty good for a guy who six weeks ago didn’t have a position on the big league roster.Joc Pederson’s tearing it up; his last seven hits have been home runs, including two solo home runs Wednesday in Milwaukee.Juan Nicasio has found a home in middle relief in the Dodgers bullpen. Can’t say we’re sad to see him gone, but it is good to see an old friend doing well in a new home.Speaking of that Dodgers bullpen, Kenley Jansen is progressing in his rehab assignment, but the Rockies probably won’t see him either. That means, despite seeing three good starting pitchers this weekend, there might be an opportunity for the Rockies to run through the Dodger bullpen. Yimi Garcia has been throwing well in his place, though.Adrian Gonzalez is playing like an MVP candidate, but we’ve already seen that. What else is new?"

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The Dodgers knocked out 21 hits in a game earlier this week against the Marlins, so there’s that.

Pederson is still great, Gonzalez is still great, and this team is exactly who they were just a few days ago.

One minor note: the Dodgers have started over with Puig’s rehab, when he suffered a setback this week, so he will not be in L.A. for this series.

It’s going to be a wild weekend in LA, and by wild, I mean potentially very painful.

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