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Giants not rolling over for rival Dodgers

Sep 20, 2008 - 10:11 AM San Francisco (69-85) at LA Dodgers (80-74) 10:10 p.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants aren't going to allow the Los Angeles Dodgers to clinch the National League West title without a fight.

The Giants go for their second straight win against their division rivals when the teams battle on Saturday.

San Francisco has long been eliminated from playoff competition, but that didn't stop it from routing the Dodgers, 7-1, during the series opener.

With the loss, the Dodgers missed an opportunity to gain breathing room over the Arizona Diamondbacks (76-77), who dropped a 3-2 decision to the Colorado Rockies and remain 3 1/2 games back. The Dodgers' magic number to clinch the division is six.

Barry Zito pitched 7 2/3 strong innings and Bengie Molina homered and drove in four runs for San Francisco, which faces the Dodgers five more times over the final eight days of the season.

"There's some history here between the clubs and we're going to do all we can to win ballgames," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "With the fans and the players, there's probably a little more incentive to play well here."

"We want to spoil the Dodgers, we want to spoil Arizona," Zito said. "To have a big series here and make a statement (is huge)."

San Francisco starter Brad Hennessey (1-2, 8.04) will try to keep Los Angeles' magic number at six. Hennessey will be making his third start after replacing the struggling Kevin Correia in the rotation on September 10.

Hiroki Kuroda (9-10, 3.77 ERA) counters for the Dodgers, who have won each of the Japanese import's last three starts. Kuroda is 2-0 over that span, surrendering six runs in 18 1/3 innings.