(Sports Network) - If the Los Angeles Dodgers have designs on winning the National League West, they'll probably have to fare better in games within the division.

Los Angeles will attempt to improve upon its mediocre record against Western foes when the Colorado Rockies come to Dodger Stadium tonight for the start of a three-game series.

The Dodgers are currently tied with Arizona for first place in the West with identical 64-60 records, but the Diamondbacks have been the far more successful team in divisional play. Arizona is an excellent 31-16 against the West this season, compared to a 23-22 mark for Los Angeles.

The Diamondbacks begin a three-game home set against lowly San Diego tonight. Los Angeles has fared pretty well against the Rockies, who are eight games back of the co-leaders, this year. The Dodgers have won seven of the 12 meetings between the teams in 2008, including four of six tests played at Chavez Ravine.

The Dodgers have also been successful as the home team, especially as of late. Joe Torre's squad is 13-4 at Dodger Stadium since the All-Star break and has taken six of the first seven contests of its current 10-game homestand. After sweeping a four-game series from NL East contender Philadelphia to begin the residency, Los Angeles won twice in three tries against the playoff-hopeful Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend.

LA overcame a ninth-inning meltdown by its bullpen in Sundays rubber match with the Brewers, with Andre Ethier's second home run of the day lifting the Dodgers to a 7-5 walkoff victory.

Ethier followed a Matt Kemp single to lead off the bottom of the ninth with a blast off Carlos Villaneuva to give Los Angeles the series win. The outfielder also had a solo homer in the fifth inning and ended the game 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored.

Manny Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI for the Dodgers, while Kemp added a solo shot on the afternoon. Ramirez's homer was his sixth in 16 games since joining Los Angeles from Boston in a three-team trade on July 31, and the All-Star slugger is batting a robust .424 (25-for-59) with 21 RBI following the blockbuster deal.

Milwaukee tied the game with four unearned runs in the top of the ninth, the result of two errors by Dodgers first baseman James Loney on one play. Ryan Braun knotted the score at 5-5 with a two-run, two-out homer off Chan Ho Park.

The comeback denied a potential win for Dodgers rookie Clayton Kershaw, who held the Brewers to one run and struck out six over six strong innings.

Los Angeles' hard-hitting lineup faces a test tonight from Rockies right- hander Ubaldo Jimenez, who fired a complete-game four-hitter to beat the Dodgers at Coors Field back on July 22.

Jimenez followed that outstanding performance up with back-to-back wins but has since been hit hard in a pair of home losses to Washington and Arizona. The 24-year-old surrendered 10 runs and 19 hits over 11 innings in those two defeats.

He has never lost to Los Angeles in five appearances, three of which have been starts, although Jimenez was rocked for six runs in just 2 1/3 innings in a matchup at Dodger Stadium in April. The native Dominican is 3-0 with a 5.34 lifetime against the Dodgers.

Los Angeles counters with Hiroki Kuroda, who's on an excellent three-start roll that continued with Thursdays victory over Philadelphia. The first-year major leaguer limited the Phillies to a run on just two hits and fanned seven without issuing a walk over seven innings to improve to 7-8 on the season.

Over his last three outings, Kuroda is 2-0 with a 1.21 earned run average and has worked at least seven innings each time. He's also excelled on the Dodger Stadium mound this year, bringing a 5-1 record with a 3.10 ERA in home games into tonight's tilt.

Kuroda did allow five runs through six innings in a road loss to the Rockies on July 23. He had an identical pitching line in an April 25 clash with Colorado in Los Angeles, although he got a no-decision in that one.

The 33-year-old is part of a Dodgers rotation that soon could include Greg Maddux, as the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that Los Angeles has agreed to a deal to acquire the four-time NL Cy Young Award winner from San Diego. Maddux is just 6-9 in 26 starts with the Padres this season, but has a respectable 3.99 ERA and has often been victimized by his team's lack of offense.

Maddux would be taking the place of Brad Penny, who was placed on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation last week and could miss the remainder of the season.

The Rockies come in off a three-game road sweep of the horrid Washington Nationals that culminated with Sundays 7-2 win. Colorado swatted three home runs on the afternoon, including three-run blasts from Ian Stewart and Seth Smith.

Aaron Cook (15-8) allowed two runs on seven hits over five innings before turning the game over to the Rockies bullpen, which delivered four shutout frames to enable Cook to record his 15th win of the year.

Brad Hawpe also went deep for Colorado and is batting .500 (10-for-20) with three home runs and seven RBI over the course of a five-game hit streak.