Game 163 Thread: Oct 1 vs. Rox, 1p

Buehler (7-5, 2.75) vs. Marquez (14-10, 3.76)

Unsatisfied with playing 162 games this season, the Dodgers opted to go one more round with the Colorado Rockies, in a matinee game today that will determine who goes to a best-of-five series vs the Braves, and who goes to a winner-take-all one-game series against an NL Central team.

And these are some hot rocks we're up against today, winners of nine in their last ten.

But wait, say you: didn't four of those games come against a Phillies team whose manager, still probably sore about losing the Dodgers job to Dave Roberts, might have told his Phillies to roll over and get pounded, 39-7 over four games?

And didn't two of the Rockies' wins over the Nationals this past weekend come against mediocre pitching, whereas they were routed 12-2 when they finally faced a real starter (Stephen Strasburg: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER)?

And weren't the Rockies' last seven games at home in hitter-friendly Coors Field?

And aren't the Dodgers 12-7 this year vs. the Rockies, punctuated most recently by a sweep at home in mid-September?

Well, we'll see how hot these rocks really are, I suppose, in this critical game. Sure, German Marquez struck out the first eight batters in his last start, but again, it was against the Phillies. And he's 2-0 against us this year in three starts, but that third start lasted only six innings, was a ND, and the Rockies lost 12-4.

On our side, Buehler struck 12 Rockies over six innings on September 19 (two starts ago), so he'll be no slouch. In fact, I think I can already hear him greeting the Rockies this afternoon:

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

Woo woo!

Note: You want some bulletin board material for this game? Try this article from today's Denver Post, in which they liken Justin Turner to Randy Newman's "big nasty redhead." Hmm.