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Diamondbacks-Padres Preview

Sep 14, 2009 - 2:06 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Arizona (62-81) at San Diego (64-79), 10:05 p.m. EDT

Only three games separate the San Diego Padres from last-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West, but the differences between the two recently have been much greater.

The Padres look for their 14th win in 19 games as they open a three-game series with the Diamondbacks on Monday.

Although it's currently ahead of the Diamondbacks, San Diego (65-79) has lost seven of 12 against Arizona (62-82) this season and was swept at Chase Field in early July the last time these two teams met.

While the Padres haven't played well against the Diamondbacks, they certainly have more momentum than Arizona, which has lost nine of 10 and was outscored 20-8 in a three-game sweep by Milwaukee over the weekend.

The Padres, meanwhile, won two of three against the wild card-leading Rockies, scoring three times in the sixth inning en route to a 7-3 victory Sunday. Adrian Gonzalez had three hits, including a double and a triple.

It was the third straight series victory over a team in the postseason hunt by the Padres, who also took two of three against division rivals Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"We try and view this as a measuring stick of going up against these teams that are competing for a playoff spot, and our guys are responding," manager Bud Black said.

Gonzalez is hitting .407 in the last seven games, with six of his 11 hits going for extra bases. The first baseman has batted just .195 against Arizona this year, though, and went 1 for 12 with five strikeouts in the last series.

Gonzalez homered in his first at-bat against Billy Buckner (2-6, 7.38 ERA), who on Monday will make his third start since being recalled from Triple-A.

Buckner lasted five innings against the Padres on May 27, allowing five runs in an 8-5 loss.

The right-hander had one of his best outings of the season against the Dodgers on Tuesday, allowing one run in seven innings. He didn't receive a decision, however, as the Diamondbacks eventually lost 5-4.

Arizona is 2-7 in Buckner's starts this year, losing six in a row.

The Diamondbacks lost 5-3 to Milwaukee on Sunday after reliever Daniel Schlereth gave up four runs while failing to make it out of the seventh. Chris Young's two-run homer in the fourth had given Arizona its first lead of the series.

Young has hit six of his 13 home runs in his last nine games.

"The personal success doesn't really matter when you don't get the win, but it's good for me to get that confidence back and go out and produce and help the team. I just need to keep that going," Young said.

Young has one hit in eight at-bats this season against Kevin Correia (10-10, 4.30), who gets the start Monday.

The Padres have won nine of Correia's last 12 starts, although he's only recorded five of those wins. The right-hander did not get a decision against the Giants on Tuesday, giving up three runs in six innings of a 4-3 win.

Correia is 1-4 with a 4.65 ERA as a starter against the Diamondbacks, going 1-2 this year. He's also made nine relief appearances.