Padres Host Rival Dodgers For Weekend

Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres (62-70) host the Los Angeles Dodgers (76-58) for a 3-game weekend series in San Diego. These two teams met last week at Dodger Stadium and the Dodgers took the series two games to one. The Padres are 4-9 against the Dodgers this year, and they last met in San Diego in June. The Dodgers are still without starting pitchers Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Paul Maholm and Hyun-Jin Ryu.

Juan Uribe is also on the shelf, but he may see time sometime this weekend. When these two teams met last week, the Dodgers won the series based on clutch hitting and a man named Clayton Kershaw. The Padres look to have avoided facing Kershaw this weekend. The Padres are coming off of a series win against the first-place Brewers and now they face their second straight first-place team.

The Dodgers have won 5 of their last 6 including a two-game series sweep in Arizona. The Dodgers have a 4.5 game lead in the National League West on the Giants. They are battling with the Nationals for the best record in the National League, currently the Dodgers are mere percentage points behind.