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Dodgers hope to avoid another sweep at Citi Field

May 8, 2011 - 2:42 PM (Sports Network) - Andre Ethier won't be leaving New York with his hitting streak in tact. The Dodgers are also in danger of leaving Citi Field without a win for a second season in a row.

Los Angeles hopes to avoid a sixth consecutive defeat at the Mets' home stadium this afternoon in the finale of a three-game series.

The Dodgers are aiming to avoid being swept in three games at Citi Field for a second season in a row, having also dropped three straight at Flushing from April 27-28 of last year. Losses in the first two games of this set has also stretched Los Angeles' overall losing streak to four straight, one off its season high.

The excitement of Ethier's 30-game hitting streak, the second-longest in Dodger history, helped mask the fact that his club is just 4-9 in its last 13 games, but that run fell one shy of Willie Davis' club record set in 1969 after Ethier went 0-for-4 with a walk in last night's 4-2 setback.

"I thought when the streak ended, maybe this little thing we're in would end too," a disappointed Ethier, who hit .397 over his hitting streak, said. "But this loss makes it a tougher pill to swallow."

A fourth-inning homer by Dioner Navarro and Aaron Miles' RBI single two innings later in the sixth tied the game at 2-2 for the Dodgers, but the Mets went ahead for good on Justin Turner's pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth inning.

"I was just looking for a pitch up in the zone that I could drive in the outfield," Turner said. "I hit it pretty good."

Closer Francisco Rodriguez took over from there, hurling a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his third save in as many games and ninth this season.

Los Angeles will now turn to left-hander Clayton Kershaw in the hopes that he can halt the club's losing streak. Kershaw, though, will be trying to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season after snapping a three- start winless drought last time out.

Kershaw was 0-2 over his mini-slide before beating the Cubs on Monday. The 23- year-old gave up two runs on eight hits over seven innings without a walk, improving to 3-3 with a 3.38 earned run average in seven starts this season.

Kershaw has never lost to the Mets, going 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA in three starts.

Knuckler R.A. Dickey tries to rebound from his worst start of the season today and pick up his first win since his season debut on April 3 for the Mets.

Since beating the Marlins with six solid innings in which he allowed just a single unearned run, Dickey is 0-3 with a 5.45 ERA in six games, all but one of those starts. The 36-year-old righty faced the Giants on Tuesday, giving up a season-high six runs on seven hits over six innings, though he did not factor into the decision of a 7-6 loss.

Dickey, who is pitching to a 4.62 ERA this season, has faced the Dodgers just once before and did not get a decision in that outing on July 25 despite hurling 5 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts.