Al DeMarco
Monday's Play
5 Dime - Colorado (Marquis) - 1 1/2 Runs over San Francisco(Zito)
The Chicago Cubs practically gave away Jason Marquis during the offseason. Tonight the righthander takes the mound at Coors Field seeking to become the National League's first 15-game winner as the Rockies attempt to open a four-game lead over visiting San Francisco in the wild-card race.
Marquis, who has won his last two outings to improve to 14-8 on the season with a 3.58 ERA, has a 2.30 earned run average in eight career starts versus San Francisco. He's also pitched well at home this season with a 3.86 ERA in 11 outings, and the Rockies have won 16 of his 24 starts overall.
Colorado is coming off consecutive comeback wins against the Giants, following Saturday's 14-11 triumph by rallying for two runs in the seventh for a 4-2 triumph on Sunday against San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum. The Rockies have won six of their last seven games with the lone loss coming in Friday's series opener and they're 16 games over .500 on the season, including 10 games over the break-even mark at home where they've won 25 of their last 35 games. By comparison, following back-to-back losses at Coors, the Giants are now 28-37 on the highway.
San Francisco sends Barry Zito to the mound and although he's pitched well most of the season, the lefthander has been continually victimized by a lack of offensive support as the Giants have averaged a league-low 2.9 runs in his starts. Zito carries a 4.52 road ERA into this start, a number that is not surprising considering he's allowed 102 baserunners in 73.2 highway innings. And tonight, Zito faces a Colorado club that is 13-7 at home versus southpaws, winning 10 of its last 11 against lefties.
With San Francisco losing three of its last four, and the Giants repeatedly failing to support Zito at the plate, it's worth the investment laying the 1 1/2 runs with Colorado to make Marquis and the Rockies a slight home dog.