BEST LINE: Pinnacle -102

Posted at 9:15 AM

3:10 PM EST. Albeit slightly, the Dodgers can’t be favored here. L.A.’s pitching staff is in shambles right now and Carlos Frias is forced into making his second career start after being called up in early August. The Dodgers signed Frias at age 17 out of the Dominican Republic and he started off as a very promising prospect before struggling several seasons in the low minors. His fastball velocity did not increase as expected and he had trouble controlling his secondary offerings. Frias experienced a bit of a turnaround season in ’13 across three levels and finally began to advance through the system. He throws with easy arm action and a repeatable delivery. His fastball sits between 88-93 mph with a little bit of movement and his slider has some late breaking action. The change-up hasn’t progressed as hoped and has yet to be a reliable option, particularly against left-handed batters. Frias doesn’t generate a lot of swing-and-misses, so he has to rely on working down in the zone and generating ground balls to be effective. At times, his slider is an effective out pitch but at other times it’s useless. Frias does not have the repertoire to be a starter. He was brought up as a relief pitcher and he’s unlikely to be anything more than that. Over 542 minor league innings, Frias has a 4.23 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. At Triple-A Albuquerque this season, he did start 15 games but impressive he was not with a 5.01 ERA, .307 oppBA and a 1.47 WHIP. Over his 25.1 innings since being called up, 21 of those innings came at either Dodger Stadium or AT&T Park so his 3.91 ERA is skewed. Now making an emergency start, we would not trust him in the favorite’s role.

Colorado went off for 10 runs last night. They have now won six its past eight games at Coors while scoring 55 times over those eight games. Jorge De La Rosa has 13 wins for a bad team. That says something. At Coors, he is 9-2 with a 3.30 ERA and that, too, speaks volumes. When this guy pitches at home, the Rockies seldom lose. De La Rosa has an outstanding 53%/19%/28% groundball/line-drive/fly-ball split over his last 31 innings covering five starts. His groundball rate on the year is 51% and it has been trending up consistently throughout. De la Rosa's stable skills, winning ways and current form make him an outstanding value play, especially against an unproven rookie that has struggled for years in the minors.