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Rockies-Dodgers Preview

Sep 19, 2010 - 1:11 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (81-66) at Los Angeles (72-76), 4:10 p.m. EDT

Troy Tulowitzki has put together an astounding stretch to help the Colorado Rockies in their playoff push. He'll try to keep it going against a pitcher who has stymied him and his club.

Clayton Kershaw enters Sunday's series finale at Dodger Stadium with a 29-inning home scoreless streak against the Rockies, who are looking for the weekend sweep.

Tulowitzki hit two more home runs Saturday in a 12-2 rout, tying a modern major league record with 14 in a 15-game stretch for the Rockies (82-66), who are closing in on the NL West lead.

The shortstop joined Albert Belle (1995) and Barry Bonds (2001) as the only players since 1900 to homer 14 times in 15 games. Tulowitzki has four multihomer games this year - all this month - and is hitting .394 with 35 RBIs in his last 16 games with a major league-leading 29 RBIs in September.

"I might not play any better than this in my entire career, so it's something that I'll always remember," Tulowitzki said. "But for right now, I'm not done with this. So I might as well try to keep on riding it out as long as I can."

Kershaw (12-10, 2.85 ERA), however, is a good candidate to slow down Tulowitzki. No player has more at-bats against Kershaw, and Tulowitzki is 5 for 26 with no homers and eight strikeouts against him.

The left-hander is 2-1 with a 0.58 ERA in five career home starts against the Rockies, yielding a total of seven hits over 15 innings in two wins this year. Kershaw is 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four overall outings against Colorado this year.

His first career complete game came Tuesday when he tossed a four-hitter in a 1-0 victory at San Francisco. Kershaw was 0-3 with a 2.77 ERA in his previous four starts, with the Dodgers scoring a total of three runs for him.

"I don't feel any different but I guess the results speak for themselves," Kershaw said. "I expect to put some zeros up there."

Kershaw has also limited MVP candidate Carlos Gonzalez to one hit in nine at-bats. Gonzalez is 16 for 43 with 14 RBIs in 12 games against the Dodgers this year.

Los Angeles (72-77) has lost four straight and 11 of 14.

The Rockies' last three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium was Sept. 25-27, 2007. They had dropped their previous five series there.

Runs could be at a premium for both teams since Jason Hammel (10-8, 4.45) is 1-1 with a 2.39 ERA in four career starts against the Dodgers, including 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in two this year.

Colorado won five straight starts by the right-hander before he gave up four runs over four innings Tuesday to San Diego in a 7-6 loss - his first since Aug. 12.

"I think I got ambushed tonight," Hammel said. "They came out and were swinging early. They were aggressive early and I kind of played right into their hands."