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Jul 25, 2010 - 3:50 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

New York (50-47) at Los Angeles (51-46), 4:10 p.m. EDT

The New York Mets started this 11-game road trip as a contender in the NL East. They could be ending it with a ninth defeat since a meeting against Clayton Kershaw may not bode well.

The punchless Mets will try to end this season-high swing on a positive note as they face Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

New York (50-48) emerged from the All-Star break faced with a long trip that could have been pivotal in closing the four-game gap on East-leading Atlanta. Instead, the Mets have gone in the opposite direction and dropped into third place behind Philadelphia in the division chase, falling 7 1/2 back of the Braves.

New York has batted .194, averaged 2.3 runs and been shut out three times in dropping eight of 10.

"I'm not sure if it's a matter of what they are doing to us or what we're not doing," manager Jerry Manuel told the team's official website. "We have to find a way to score some runs."

The Mets' dismal trip continued Saturday when Oliver Perez served up a walkoff homer to the Dodgers' James Loney in a 3-2, 13-inning loss. It was their major league-leading 12th walkoff defeat of the season - no other club has more than nine losses in that fashion.

New York is 20-32 on the road, and the club may have trouble improving upon that against Kershaw (9-5, 3.15 ERA).

The left-hander was cruising through his last start Tuesday before being ejected with no outs in the seventh and not getting a decision in a 7-5 loss to San Francisco. He exited the contest after plate umpire Adrian Johnson deemed he deliberately hit San Francisco's Aaron Rowand after plunking Andres Torres in the first.

Kershaw, who owns the lowest ERA of any member of Los Angeles' rotation, was suspended five games for the incident, but appealed and will get his scheduled start.

The Dodgers' leader in wins and strikeouts (135), Kershaw is 4-0 with a 2.34 ERA in his last seven home starts.

He'll face the Mets there for the first time, but he's 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA in two starts against them. He was dominant in New York on July 7, 2009, allowing three hits with seven strikeouts in six innings of an 8-0 win.

Kershaw may be in for another strong effort against the Mets, who scored six of their eight runs in this four-game series in Friday's win.

R.A. Dickey (6-4, 2.73) is familiar with the Mets' offensive shortcomings while going 0-4 with a 3.31 ERA over his last five starts. He's received two or fewer runs in four of those outings after being provided with an average of 6.69 while winning six starts in a row.

The right-handed knuckleballer has a 2.28 ERA in his last four games, and turned in another quality start in Tuesday's 3-2 loss at Arizona. He yielded three runs in seven innings while the offense mustered six hits.

"I felt it was an outing that we fought tooth and nail and I gave our guys a chance to win," said Dickey, who is facing the Dodgers for the first time.