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Padres-Dodgers Preview

May 19, 2010 - 7:30 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

San Diego (23-16) at Los Angeles (22-17), 10:10 p.m. EDT

Andre Ethier was building some convincing credentials to be named the NL player of the month, but that campaign was derailed when the outfielder landed on the disabled list.

Even without Ethier, the Los Angeles Dodgers' run as baseball's hottest team is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Dodgers, who won their major league season-high ninth in a row hours after placing Ethier on the DL, look to extend their streak and possibly pull into a first-place NL West tie with the visiting San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles (22-17) won nine of 12 to begin May largely thanks to Ethier, who hit .490 with five homers and 19 RBIs and had his team on a five-game winning streak heading into last weekend.

However, the right fielder fractured the top knuckle on his right pinkie finger in a San Diego batting cage, and on Tuesday the Dodgers decided to place him on the DL.

"What makes it bad is the team part," said Ethier, who leads the majors with 38 RBIs and a .392 average "We're really coming together as a team, and it's been a long month and a half to get ourselves into the position we've gotten ourselves into right now. So to be missing time because of something like that is the tough part."

Los Angeles finished off a sweep of the Padres (23-16) without Ethier and beat Houston 6-2 on Monday to push its winning streak to eight. Tuesday was Ethier bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium, but Casey Blake was the star with three hits in a 7-3 victory over the Astros.

"(Losing Andre) just changes the dynamic of the lineup a little bit, but we've got guys who can step in," Blake said. "We've showed in the last few nights that we still have guys in the lineup who can hit."

The Dodgers, who trail San Diego by a game in the West with San Francisco one-half game back of the Padres, now have a chance to win 10 straight for the first time since an 11-game run July 28-Aug. 8, 2006. It had been nearly as long since Ramon Ortiz (1-1, 5.40 ERA) had made a start prior to facing the Padres on Friday.

Ortiz hadn't started in the majors since May 26, 2007, spending 2008 in Japan and last season with San Francisco's Triple-A affiliate. Manager Joe Torre gave him a shot in the rotation after 14 relief appearances, and Ortiz gave up three runs, six hits and three walks over four innings of Los Angeles' 4-3 win.

Adrian Gonzalez homered off Ortiz on Friday, improving to 6 for 9 with two homers against the right-hander. Gonzalez's .227 average versus Los Angeles is his lowest against any NL opponent, however, and he's a .211 hitter at Dodger Stadium.

Gonzalez and Padres cleanup hitter Chase Headley are both struggling at the plate. Gonzalez has four hits in his last 25 at-bats (.160), while Headley is 6 for his last 34 (.176) and struck out to end a 7-6, 12-inning loss to the Giants on Wednesday in which San Diego's bullpen allowed five runs.

"Rare bad outing for the pen," manager Bud Black said. "Over 162 games, guys aren't going to be invincible."

Jon Garland (4-2, 1.88), who spent the final month of 2009 with the Dodgers, figures to give the Padres an excellent shot at bouncing back. The right-hander has allowed four total earned runs over his last six starts, though two of them came over six innings in last Friday's game against Ortiz and Los Angeles.

Manny Ramirez is 15 for 30 with three homers and 10 walks versus Garland, who's 3-1 with a 1.67 ERA in his career at Dodger Stadium.