• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Giants-Dodgers Preview

Sep 19, 2009 - 6:57 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

San Francisco (80-67) at Los Angeles (88-60), 4:10 p.m. EDT

Brad Penny's miserable 2008 season didn't do much to help the Los Angeles Dodgers win the NL West, and the right-hander's first experience in the AL wasn't much of an improvement.

His brief tenure with the San Francisco Giants, however, couldn't be going any better.

Penny seems to have regained his All-Star form in winning his first three starts with San Francisco, and he'll look to help bolster the visiting Giants' wild card hopes Saturday when he seeks a second victory this week against the Dodgers.

Penny (3-0, 1.64 ERA) spent four full seasons in Los Angeles and was an All-Star in 2006 and 2007, when he went 32-13 with a 3.65 ERA.

Following a disastrous, injury-plagued 2008 in which he posted a 6.27 ERA, the Dodgers (88-60) declined Penny's team option, and the right-hander eventually landed in Boston.

The Red Sox released him last month after he went 1-5 with a 7.82 ERA since the All-Star break, but Penny has turned himself around since the Giants (80-67) signed him Aug. 31. Opponents are hitting .169 against Penny in his first 22 innings with San Francisco, and he picked up his third win Sunday after limiting Los Angeles to two runs over seven innings in a 7-2 victory at AT&T Park.

"Honest to God, I swear, I don't care who we're playing," said Penny, who's 28-16 with a 3.75 ERA in his career at Dodger Stadium. "We're in a playoff race and we can't lose to anyone."

San Francisco entered its final series of the season with the Dodgers 8 1/2 games behind the division leaders and 3 1/2 games in back of wild-card leading Colorado, but gained on both Friday. Eugenio Velez, Pablo Sandoval and Aaron Rowand all homered in an 8-4 win that pulled the Giants within 2 1/2 of the Rockies, who lost 7-5 at Arizona.

"No one wants to give in," reliever Jeremy Affeldt said. "When you're this close in the pennant race, whatever team gets hot usually gets it."

Perhaps the best sign for San Francisco was Sandoval's third-inning, three-run homer. It was the first homer since Aug. 29 for the third baseman, who came in hitting .226 in September but leads the team in every major offensive category.

"I think as much as anything, he's getting a little anxious," manager Bruce Bochy told the Giants' official Web site. "You start pressing a little bit, trying to do too much. We just have to get him back to being himself. He doesn't have to carry this ballclub."

The Dodgers, whose magic number to clinch the West is 10, will counter Penny with another pitcher making his fourth start with his new team. Jon Garland (10-11, 4.19) is 2-0 with a 3.32 ERA since coming over in an Aug. 31 trade with Arizona, and pitched well in facing the Diamondbacks in his first two starts with Los Angeles.

He labored through six innings Monday against Pittsburgh, but left with good results, allowing two runs and six hits in a 6-2 victory.

"It was definitely a grind out there," Garland told the Dodgers' official Web site. "As long as we keep playing good baseball, things are going to work out. ... it's great to play with these guys."

Garland faced the Giants once this season with Arizona, allowing four runs and 10 hits - including a three-run homer to Sandoval - over 7 1-3 innings in a 5-4, 12-inning win on April 26.

Sandoval went 4 for 4 with a double against Garland.