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Penny and Peavy square off in NL West clash

Jun 30, 2007 - 12:57 PM San Diego (45-33) at La Dodgers (45-35) 10:10 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Brad Penny's impressive home mark will be put to the test when he faces Jake Peavy on Saturday.

Penny (10-1, 2.04 ERA), the National League's wins leader, takes the hill for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle game of a three-game series with the San Diego Padres.

Penny is unbeaten in his last three starts and boasts a sparkling 7-1 home mark to go along with a 1.38 ERA here.

In his last start on Monday, the hard-throwing righthander held Arizona to one run and four hits over eight innings. He has allowed one run or fewer in eight of his last nine starts.

Penny went 0-2 with a 8.55 ERA against San Diego last season, and is 1-4 with a 6.69 ERA in seven games against them.

To make matters worse, Penny will be opposed by Jake Peavy (9-2, 2.14), who is 4-0 with a major league-best 0.88 ERA in six road starts.

However, he was not dominating in his last start as he lasted a season-low five innings and yielded three runs and nine hits to Boston on Sunday. But things do bode well for Peavy, who has dominated the Dodgers, going 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last 10 starts against them.

San Diego has won three straight after taking the opener, 7-6, on Friday thanks in part to a three-run homer by rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff. San Diego has won 19 of the last 26 meetings from Los Angeles dating to last season.