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Capuano hopes to bounce back against Phils

Jun 6, 2012 - 2:40 PM (Sports Network) - Chris Capuano has been perhaps the Dodgers' most consistent starter this season, but the left-hander had a rare bad outing last time out.

Los Angeles and Capuano hope it was just a one-game anomaly as he looks to rebound in the third contest of a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Signed to be the Dodgers' fifth starter, Capuano has instead paced the rotation by going 7-2 with a 2.50 earned run average over 11 starts. However, he picked up that second defeat on Friday in Colorado to snap a two-start winning streak.

The 33-year-old was charged with seven runs -- four earned -- on seven hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings of a game that the Dodgers lost 13-3 while committing four errors. Capuano said afterwards that he let his inability to make pitches get to him.

"I wasn't really happy with the way I handled it mentally today out there," Capuano told his team's official website. "I was getting real frustrated with myself. From the first pitch in the bullpen my command was just off today. For me it was kind of a grind mentally, and I don't think I handled it very well."

Despite a 2.87 ERA in six career outings against the Phillies, including five starts, he is 0-2 against them.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, hopes that right-hander Kyle Kendrick can string together a third straight victory this evening.

Kendrick began the season as the club's long-relief option in the bullpen but has been needed to step into the rotation due to injury. He is 2-4 in 12 overall outings while posting a 3.27 ERA in seven starts.

Kendrick earned his first victory of the season on May 26 with a seven-hit shutout of the Cardinals, then beat the Marlins on Friday. The 27-year-old scattered two runs, eight hits and three walks over 5 1/3 frames.

Lifetime versus the Dodgers, Kendrick is 4-3 with an 8.01 ERA in seven games, all but one of those starts. He has allowed 27 earned runs and seven homers in 30 1/3 innings against Los Angeles.

Kendrick will need to be aware of the Dodgers' Elian Herrera, who has helped his club take the first two games of this series.

Herrera hit a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth on Monday, then connected on a two-out double in the eighth inning last night that brought home two runs in a 2-1 victory.

Herrera's hit came after the Dodgers had already had two runners gunned down at third in the inning. But he came through with a drive to left field off Phillies starter Cliff Lee that chased home Dee Gordon.

"He [Herrera] had a really good at-bat," said Lee. "He fouled off a lot of pitches. That last pitch was a hanging curveball. That was the ballgame. Other than that last pitch, I felt like my stuff was as good as I've had all year."

Lee dropped to 0-3 through nine starts this season despite a 2.92 ERA. He struck out 12 batters, but a lack of run support led to Philadelphia's fourth straight setback.

The Dodgers, who had lost six of seven before this series, got seven brilliant innings from Chad Billingsley, who gave up just the one run on six hits and a walk.

"When Cliff Lee throws a game like that, your guy's gotta throw with him," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "Chad Billingsley gave us a chance."

While the Dodgers increased their lead over the Giants for first place in the National League West to four games, the Phillies dipped back below .500 (28-29) and remain last in the NL East, five games out of first.

The Phillies are 9-5 versus the Dodgers since the start of the 2010 season, but have now split their last eight at home in that span.