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Marlins-Dodgers Preview

Jul 6, 2010 - 5:56 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Florida (38-43) at Los Angeles (45-36), 10:10 p.m. EDT

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the thick of NL West race thanks to a remarkable divisional record.

Other games have been another story for the Dodgers, especially against teams from the NL East.

Los Angeles again tries to shake its struggles against the East and avoid losing four straight to the Florida Marlins for the first time in a single season Tuesday night.

After going a franchise-worst 4-11 in interleague play, the Dodgers (45-37) gladly resumed the NL portion of their schedule with a trip to San Francisco and Arizona. Los Angeles won five of six against those division rivals to move to 23-6 against the West, the best record for any major league team within its division.

Just as the Dodgers seemed to be getting back on track, a 6-5 loss to the Marlins (39-43) in Monday's series opener dropped them four games behind first-place San Diego. Los Angeles fell to 4-10 against opponents from the NL East.

The Dodgers rank second in the NL in both batting average (.270) and runs per game (4.8), but are hitting .241 and averaging 3.7 runs against the East. After winning the opener of the season series, they've lost three straight to the Marlins - all by one-run margins.

Vicente Padilla, coming off his best outing of his season, will try to help Los Angeles overcome its struggles against the East when he takes the ball Tuesday.

Padilla (2-2, 5.05 ERA) gave up one run and three hits in seven innings of Wednesday's 8-2 win over the Giants, his 100th career victory. The 11-year veteran threw 98 pitches in his third start after missing nearly two months with a sore right forearm.

Padilla feels like he's approaching the same consistency he showed down the stretch last year for the Dodgers. The right-hander went 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA in eight games for Los Angeles over the final 5 1/2 weeks of the 2009 regular season, and 1-1 with a 3.63 ERA in three playoff starts.

"You could say I'm really close to last year," he told the Dodgers' official website. "My velocity, my control are like last year and I made almost 100 pitches in seven innings."

Padilla made a start in Florida before going on the DL, allowing four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings without getting a decision in a 7-6 loss April 10.

Winners of two in a row after losing seven of their previous nine, the Marlins will try to pick up a rare victory with Chris Volstad (4-7, 4.45) on the mound. They've dropped nine of his last 10 starts.

Volstad allowed four runs in five innings of Wednesday's 6-5 loss to the New York Mets in Puerto Rico, but didn't get a decision.

Volstad's season debut came against Los Angeles on April 9, when he gave up three runs in 6 1-3 innings of a 7-3 loss. The right-hander has won both of his previous starts at Dodger Stadium, yielding five runs over 14 innings in those outings.

Dan Uggla, left off the All-Star roster despite leading all NL second baseman with 16 homers, had three hits and scored once in the series opener. He is batting .480 with two home runs and eight RBIs in his last six games.