Colorado at Los Angeles

Anytime we can back a red-hot team, such as the Rockies as a chunky dog, we will. The Rockies have rattled off eight straight, but that isn't the entire story. The Rockies have been one of the best teams in baseball for a longtime. They got off to a horrible 18-27 start, but have since gone 66-45, playing almost .600 baseball for the bulk of the season. The Rockies have out-scored their opponent 55-24 over this eight-game stretch, so it has been both offense and pitching producing. The Rockies are a MLB best 63-48 for +23.15 units against RHP. Ubaldo Jimenez has pitched great lately. He has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last eight starts. The log reads 47 innings, 33 hits and 15 runs, good for a 2.87 ERA. The Dodgers have wilted in the second half, and are just 26-35 over their last 61 and 1-7 in their last eight. Brad Penny was unhittable through the end of June, but has since been ordinary, posting a 4.09 ERA over his last 15 starts. The Rockies touched him up for three HRs and nine hits in his last outing. Penny had yielded just five HRs all season, but now has served up four in his last two outings. We like the Rockies to take game 1 over a struggling Penny and a limping Dodgers’ team.