Dodgers ready for big series with Rockies

Baseball Betting Lines

08/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of NL West foes trying to keep their postseason hopes intact collide tonight in the Rocky Mountains, where the Colorado Rockies begin a three-game series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field.

Colorado has won four straight and completed a three-game sweep of the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves with a 12-10 victory Wednesday in Denver. Seth Smith homered and finished with two RBI, while Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez each provided two RBI for the Rockies, who erased a nine-run deficit in the win and are now four games off the lead in the NL Wild Card race.

Todd Helton recorded three hits and knocked in a run during Colorado's four- run eighth inning. Matt Belisle threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win and starter Esmil Rogers lasted only 1 2/3 frames, giving up seven runs and eight hits with three strikeouts in the no-decision.

"We're definitely going to keep our heads up and battle all the way," Helton said. "We know we're still in it, and we know we're never out of it."

The Rockies have a good chance at staying within striking distance of a playoff spot with Ubaldo Jimenez set to take the hill Friday. Jimenez is tied with CC Sabathia (Yankees) and Adam Wainwright (Cardinals) for the major league lead in wins with 17, but was denied his 18th victory of the season last Saturday in a 3-1 loss to the lowly Diamondbacks.

Jimenez allowed three runs in six innings at Arizona. He has lost two of his last three starts and is only 2-3 with a 4.04 earned run average in his last seven outings.

The hard-throwing righty is 17-4 with a 2.66 ERA in 25 starts this season and is 5-4 in 13 career games (12 starts) against the Dodgers.

Los Angeles is right behind Colorado in the Wild Card standings at five games off the pace and just swept the Brewers in three games at Miller Park.

In Thursday's 7-1 victory over Milwaukee in the series finale, Casey Blake homered and Scott Podsednik finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Dodgers, who got three hits from Brad Ausmus in the win.

Carlos Monasterios started for Los Angeles and yielded one run in 4 1/3 innings for the no-decision. Ronald Belisario got the final out in the fifth for the win.

"I wish Carlos (Monasterios) could have gotten through the fifth inning and pitched to get the win," said Ausmus. "He deserved it. But the others picked him up and we won the game, which is most important."

Slugger Manny Ramirez was reportedly placed on waivers this week and the Dodgers are still waiting to see what will happen with the left fielder. He did not play in Thursday's series finale in Brew City.

Clayton Kershaw will take the mound Friday amid all the distractions with Ramirez and is 11-8 with a 3.07 ERA in 26 starts this season. Kershaw, though, has dropped three of his last five starts and allowed three runs through seven innings of a 5-2 loss versus Cincinnati on Sunday.

Kershaw, a lefty, was coming off seven shutout innings in a win over Colorado and is 5-3 in 11 career starts against the Rockies.

Los Angeles has won six of nine meetings with Colorado this season and 20 of the last 27 contests in this series.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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