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Dodgers-Giants Preview

Sep 10, 2009 - 11:20 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (83-58) at San Francisco (76-64), 10:15 p.m. EDT

There are still three weeks remaining in the regular season, but the next 10 days will likely make or break the San Francisco Giants' playoff chances.

With their postseason aspirations slipping away, the Giants open an important stretch of games Friday night at AT&T Park with a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who try to prevent their NL West lead from shrinking to its smallest margin in 4 1/2 months.

After staying two games off the pace in the wild-card race with Monday's 9-4 win over San Diego, San Francisco (76-64) dropped its next two against the Padres to fall 4 1/2 games behind wild card-leading Colorado.

This week gives the Giants a chance to make a run. After this series, San Francisco hosts the Rockies for three games followed by a trip to Dodger Stadium for three.

A solid showing by the Giants, who are 5-7 against the Dodgers (83-58) this season, could possibly put them in the wild-card lead while a disappointing stretch could effectively end any realistic playoff chance.

To make a playoff push, San Francisco needs to start scoring runs. While the lineup looked strong Monday against the Padres, the Giants plated five runs in losing the next two.

"It's going to come down to us swinging the bats," manager Bruce Bochy told the Giants' official Web site following Wednesday's 4-2 loss.

This stretch is shaping up to be just as important for Los Angeles. The Dodgers' lead atop the division has shrunk to two games over the Rockies, their smallest advantage since Aug. 25.

Los Angeles, which suffered a 4-3 loss to Arizona on Wednesday, hasn't seen its lead drop below two games since April 24, when it had a 1 1/2-game lead over San Diego.

Manny Ramirez hit his 18th homer Wednesday and been carrying the Dodgers lately. Ramirez has five homers in his last 11 games, and is batting .476 with a homer, four doubles, four RBIs and a .593 on-base percentage in his last six against the Giants.

The 12-time All-Star hasn't had much success against scheduled starter Matt Cain (13-4, 2.51 ERA), going 2 for 10 with a homer lifetime against him, but that hasn't led to any victories for the San Francisco right-hander.

Cain is 0-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 12 career starts against the Dodgers and 0-4 with a 4.54 ERA in six outings against them in San Francisco. In his only start versus Los Angeles this season on April 15, Cain gave up two runs, seven hits and four walks in six innings of a 5-4 loss, but didn't receive a decision.

Cain defeated Milwaukee on Saturday for his first victory since July 24. He allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings of the 3-2 win.

The Dodgers counter with Hiroki Kuroda (5-6, 4.15), who hopes for a little sharper command on the mound

In his first start since getting hit in the head with a line drive on Aug. 15, Kuroda gave up four runs, four hits and three walks in five innings of a 4-3 loss to San Diego. It was the right-hander's first defeat since July 8.

"I was very satisfied with the way he came through," manager Joe Torre said. "I thought he competed very well. I thought his stuff was good, but he might have just been a little bit rusty as far as command."

In his only start this year against the Giants on Aug. 10, Kuroda allowed one run and six hits in 6 1-3 innings of 4-2 victory.