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LOS ANGELES — e reasons to feel optimistic Cliff Pennington Jersey , rallying for a victory Friday over the team they are chasing in the standings while knowing ace Clayton Kershaw is on the mound Saturday.The situation started to look discouraging for the Dodgers, who had lost to the Diamondbacks on Thursday to fall two games back in the division, while sitting in third place. But late home runs from Enrique Hernandez and Justin Turner on Friday gave the Dodgers a 3-2 victory and moved them into second place.A gem from their staff ace on Saturday would move the Dodgers up another rung on the NL West ladder. The Dodgers are one game behind the Diamondbacks and the teams would be sharing the top spot with a Los Angeles victory in the third game of the series.Article continues below ...The Dodgers originally had Kershaw (6-5, 2.39 ERA) scheduled to pitch in Friday’s game, but moved the left-hander to Saturday so they could line up their No. 1 starter in a series next week against another division contender, the Colorado Rockies.Despite two stints on the disabled list this season and just six victories heading into the final month, Kershaw has looked dominating since coming off the DL on June 23. He is 5-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 12 starts since then, and has not given up more than two earned runs in any of his last seven outings. He is 15-9 lifetime against Arizona with a 2.53 ERA in 29 starts.Kershaw has started three games against the Diamondbacks this season, and is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in those contests.The Diamondbacks will counter with a left-hander of their own as Patrick Corbin (10-5, 3.15) will take the mound. Corbin has also pitched well of late, delivering five consecutive quality starts, going 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA in that stretch, with a .213 opponents’ batting average.Even more promising for the Diamondbacks is that Corbin has a 0.98 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers this season. The Dodgers are hitting just .115 against him in those games and have struck out 24 times. He is just 1-0 in those three starts.Corbin’s career numbers against Los Angeles are not as good Joey Votto Jersey , however. He is 4-9 with a 3.78 ERA in 19 career appearances (17 starts) against the Dodgers.Corbin gave up just two runs over seven innings Monday at San Francisco, but Arizona ended the day with a 2-0 defeat.“He’s only got 10 wins on the year,” Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed said about Corbin, according to mlb.com. “That’s our fault as an offense for not giving him enough runs. He’s pitched good enough to easily have 15, 16 wins for us. We did it again (Monday), didn’t score, so hopefully we turn that around these few starts.”One more reason for the Dodgers to feel good heading into Saturday’s game is that closer Kenley Jansen finally looks like himself again. Jansen had a short disabled-list stint in August because of an irregular heartbeat.Upon his return, he gave up a run in four consecutive outings, losing two games and blowing a save in another.But even while giving up a double in the ninth inning to Paul Goldschmidt on Friday, Jansen looked to be in control for the first time in over three weeks.“It was so much better,” said Jansen, who credited a mechanical adjustment for his improvement. “It was me throwing with my lower body and that’s how I did it, let my lower body carry me to home plate. I felt so much better.”“ PHOENIX — The Colorado Rockies used another strong pitching performance to stay on track Saturday.Right-hander Antonio Senzatela gave up three hits in seven innings in a 5-1 victory over Arizona http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-cliff-pennington-jersey , following German Marquez’s dominant outing Friday as the Rockies took the first two games of a three-game series.The Rockies trail the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wild-card spot. Each deficit is 1 1/2 games. The Diamondbacks, who led the division Sept. 1, is one loss away from elimination.Article continues below ...“We need to get it done, no matter how we get it,” said Colorado catcher Chris Iannetta, whose two-out, two-run single triggered a decisive four-run third inning.“We just need to get wins. We don’t have many games left. We need some help from teams in front of us to lose some games, and we have to win a bunch. It’s going to be difficult, but we’ll just try to win one each day and see what happens.”Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland (15-7, 2.95) is to face Arizona righty Zack Godley (14-10, 4.79) in Sunday’s series finale. Freeland has made nine consecutive quality starts.If home field means anything, Colorado might have a bit of an edge as it looks to make up the necessary ground in the final week of the season.The Rockies, who have played one fewer game than the Dodgers Reggie Sanders Jersey , will play their final seven games at Coors Field against NL East teams Philadelphia and Washington. Both have been eliminated from the playoffs.The Rockies set a franchise record with 43 road wins after taking the first two games of the Arizona series Saturday and also are 41-33 at home.The Dodgers will play their final game this season against San Diego on Sunday. They have road series remaining against Arizona and the Padres. St. Louis has a three-game home series against contending Milwaukee beginning Monday before closing the season with a three-game set against the NL Central-leading Cubs at Wrigley Field.“I think most teams feel comfortable and confident at home,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “I think we do. We’re much better at home the second half of the season. We play the schedule.”Arizona has lost 11 of 14 with the troubles coming because of a sluggish offense compounded by a suddenly leaky bullpen.“I go back to Jim Carrey ‘you’re saying there a chance’,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’ve going to live until I can take no more breaths, and I feel like the whole clubhouse will do the same.”Freeland, a native of Denver who was the Rockies’ first round pick in the 2014 draft, has developed into a star in his second season in the rotation, and with right-hander Marquez appears to give the Rockies a dominant 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation for years to come. Freeland is 25. Marquez 23. Freeland is fifth in the NL in ERA and victories and fourth in WAR, and has only gotten sharper as the season has moved along. He is 9-1 with a 2.43 ERA in his last 18 starts, and has given up more than three runs only once in that stretch. The Rockies have won 14 of his 18 starts during that span.“He’s doing what successful pitchers do,” Black said. “He’s throwing a lot of strikes in good spots within his repertoire, and his repertoire is solid major league stuff across the board. He pitches with a great deal of aggressiveness and confidence. He’s been able to make a pitch when he needs to, to get out of an inning and get out of a jam.”The Rockies have won three of Freeland’s previous four starts against the Diamondbacks, although he is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA against them this season and 2-2 against them in his career. He gave up four runs in five innings in his only start at Chase Field.“Changing speeds very well http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-cliff-pennington-jersey , much better than he did a year ago,” Black said. “The consistency of his slider is much improved from last year. Fastball command much improved. The strikeout/walk ratio are in order for his type of stuff. He’s fielding his position. He’s holding runners well. All the things that make his successful.”Godley was pushed back until Sunday to give Zack Greinke and Patrick Corbin the first two cracks the Rockies in this series, a maneuver designed to give Arizona the best chance to win this series and in the final week of the season.Like Freeland, Godley has set career highs in virtually every statistical category in his first full season in the rotation, although he has battled consistency at times. He leads the NL with 12 hit batters and 16 wild pitches, and his 1.45 WHIP ranks 30th of the 31 NL qualifiers.Godley has not been at his best since mid-August, going 1-4 with a 7.42 ERA in his last six starts. Included in that was a 13-2 loss at Colorado on Sept. 10, the first contest of a four-game series in which the Rockies won three. He is 1-1 with a 6.14 ERA in three starts against the Rockies this season and is 4-1, 3.99 in eight career outings.