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Diamondbacks meet Dodgers in NL West showdown

Jun 25, 2007 - 2:31 PM LA Dodgers (42-33) at Arizona (44-32) 9:40 pm EDT

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The owners of the best record in the National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks will begin a four-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday at Chase Field.

Rookie Micah Owings (5-1, 4.06 ERA) will aim for his fifth straight win. He has held the opposition to three runs or less in his 11 starts, helping the Diamondbacks to a 7-4 record in those outings.

In a 7-4 win on Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Owings allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings. It was just the second time he has yielded more than three runs.

However, Owings will have the unenviable task of matching Brad Penny (9-1, 2.12 ERA), who had his scheduled start pushed back a day so he could open this series against the Diamondbacks. He has the second-best ERA in the NL behind the Padres' Chris Young and is trying to become the first 10-game winner in the circuit.

Penny, who set a similar pace last season when he started the season 10-2 with a 2.91 ERA and was named the NL starter for the All-Star Game, has not lost since May 18 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Los Angeles is 13-2 in Penny's starts.

On Tuesday, the righthander permitted one run over seven innings in a 10-1 victory over Toronto, helping the 29-year-old to win his fourth straight decision.

Penny has been particularly hard on Arizona, as he has a 6-2 record with a 1.88 ERA in 13 career starts against them. This season, he is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in his two starts against the Diamondbacks, who drafted Penny in 1996.