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Dodgers-Diamondbacks Preview

Sep 9, 2009 - 6:20 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Los Angeles (82-57) at Arizona (61-78), 10:10 p.m. EDT

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded Jon Garland to the Los Angeles Dodgers just before the waiver trade deadline last month, but they've hardly bid farewell to the right-hander.

After witnessing Garland's first outing with his new team, they'd certainly like to.

Garland shut down his former club in his first start with the Dodgers, and he'll get a chance to do it again as he returns to Chase Field for Wednesday night's series finale looking for his fourth straight win.

Garland (9-11, 4.23 ERA) was solid if not spectacular in his first season with the Diamondbacks, but received little run support and was dealt from the out-of-contention club to first-place Los Angeles on Aug. 31.

With Arizona opening a road series with the Dodgers at the time the trade was consummated, Garland made the short trek from the visitors clubhouse to the home one at Dodger Stadium, and the Diamondbacks (61-79) haven't really been rid of him since.

Garland gave up two runs and five hits over seven innings Thursday against Arizona in his Los Angeles debut, pitching the Dodgers to a 4-2 victory.

"Being able to go out there and give this team a good quality start, coming out of the game with the lead and ending up winning it, I couldn't have asked for much more," said Garland, who's 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last two starts.

Stephen Drew's third-inning homer was one of the few impact hits Arizona could muster against its former teammate. Mark Reynolds had the other RBI.

"He's seen us hit all year, so he knows our weaknesses and our strengths," Reynolds said. "Facing us this soon, I'm sure he had a good game plan on what he wanted to do."

Arizona had won six of seven prior to its loss to Garland, but hasn't won since. The Dodgers scored four times in the eighth inning Tuesday night to turn a three-run deficit into a 5-4 win.

"It's a good sign. Most of the night, it was frustrating as all get out, there's no question about it," manager Joe Torre said.

Los Angeles may have a more difficult time scoring Wednesday against Dan Haren (13-8, 2.78), who is 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA against the NL West leaders this season.

The All-Star was 2-3 with a 5.75 ERA in six starts from July 23-Aug. 19, but has evened out his struggles recently, going 1-0 with a 3.15 ERA in his past three outings. Haren didn't earn a decision Friday at Colorado, allowing two runs and six hits while striking out eight in the Diamondbacks' 5-4 loss.

Despite Haren's solid numbers against the Dodgers this season, he'll need to be especially wary of Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier. Ramirez, hitting .255 in his last 16 games, is a .542 (13 for 24) hitter with two homers against Haren. Ethier, who drove in two runs Tuesday and has six RBIs in his past four games, is batting .391 (9 for 23) with a pair of home runs versus Haren as well.