Dodgers Lineup:

Clayton Kershaw will have to wage on after losing his father this past week. Kershaw is expected to be activated from the bereavement list today, and he has already flown to San Francisco with the team. Kershaw immediately left the Sunday game, one in which he struck out a dozen Milwaukee bats, due to the family emergency. Last season Kershaw battled a bout with the flu on Opening Day 2012, plantar fasciitis, a hip impingement, and of course the lack of run support afforded by his teammates. Kersh still had an amazing and Cy Young worthy season even though his win-loss numbers weren’t as appealing as the previous season largely in part to the said lack of run support. Even so he was still one strikeout behind R.A. Dickey for tops in the league, and he placed second behind the knuckleballer in Cy Young votes.

Clayton Kershaw will be activated from the bereavement list on Friday. Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Kershaw is not a second place type pitcher. He most certainly is an ace. Kershaw has once again continued his dominance this season thus far. He also is victim to the low run support in a couple of his starts much like last season. Last Sunday against Milwaukee, I watched Kershaw’s brilliance on the mound in person. From that game opening strikeout of Aoki, I could tell that Kershaw was on his game. The lefty struck out 12, walked none, and only allowed 4 hits over 8 innings of shutout ball. I also was lucky enough to see Clayton’s Opening Day homerun, the first homerun of his career. It was pretty magical, and it was beautifully hit to center field. I will never forget that moment, it was truly special.

Kershaw is tied for second in the league with 47 strikeouts going into Friday night’s game in San Francisco. He’s been very successful against the Giants in his career. He is 9-4 with a 1.28 ERA against the pumpkin colored foes. The biggest threat has been Pablo Sandoval who is hitting .276 against Kersh.

Barry Zito will be trying to shut down Dodgers at AT&T Park to open a three-game series.

Barry Zito will be countering Kershaw tonight at AT&T Park Like Kersh, Zito will be vying for his fourth win on the season. The veteran lefty wasn’t involved in the decision in his last outing against San Diego, He pitched only 3 2/3 innings while allowing 1 run on 6 hits. Over his career against the Dodgers, he is 9-10 with a 3.71 ERA. Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Kemp have hit him well in the past, and Kemp has three homeruns against Zito. Skip Schumaker has also hit him to a tune of .438 with 4 RBIs. Andre Ethier has historically had trouble against Zito, and he’s only hitting .200 against him in 40 at-bats.

The Dodgers will need to win tonight in order to get back to .500 on the season. The Giants are currently 16-12. The Dodgers will try to take advantage of Kershaw’s exceptional pitching and the fact that they have really improved against left-handed pitching. Last season they hit .247 against southpaws, but this year so far they are hitting .301 which is the best in the MLB. How much has Mark McGwire helped on this front? It’s a great shift, although there are many other issues to work on with the Dodgers’ offense.

The Dodgers will have to make a decision on Mark Ellis, and he could be headed to the DL due to his quad strain. Interestingly enough, it was reported that Dee Gordon has been taking grounders at second base. We will be looking more into the possibility of converting Gordon to second base in a later post.

Looking for their first win of the month, the Dodgers led by Clayton Kershaw will hope to begin a successful road trip by first disrupting the Giants.

First pitch is at 7:15 p.m on Prime Ticket. Join us after the last out is made for our recap.

Dodgers Lineup: vs. Giants

Luis Cruz douses Elian Herrera in a postgame celebration last night. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Even if the Dodgers don’t complete a baseball miracle and win these final two games while the Cardinals hopefully lose their final two, we can’t say the Boys in Blue didn’t go out with a bang. They are riding a season-high six-game winning streak, and they are currently the hottest team in baseball. After a St. Louis victory last night, their magic number was reduced to one game. The Dodgers are on the brink of elimination, and one loss or one Red Bird win will equal the end of their postseason dreams for this season. Last night’s epic walk-off win against the evil Giants was as sweet as it gets. Luis Cruz and Elian Herrera played heroes again, and their many years of hard work within the minor leagues has finally paid off this season as they contributed to the big team throughout the year. Luis Cruz has all but secured himself a starting job on next year’s squad, and Elian Herrera could be used as a utility guy off the bench. The reformulated Dodger team is finally meshing, and the results are promising. Adrian Gonzalez has a 13-game hitting streak (the longest by a Dodger this season), Andre Ethier is continuing to hit in those clutch situations, and Matt Kemp is on the mend and raking it. Next year looks to be a breakout season for the Dodgers, but there are still two games remaining on this season’s schedule to worry about.

Chris Capuano started the season out so strong. He went 9-3 with a 2.69 ERA during the first half, but during the second half his ERA has climbed a full point and he has lost 8 games while only winning 3. Last time out against the Padres, the southpaw picked up his twelfth win. He only allowed 1 run on 5 hits over 5

Chris Capuano looks to end season on a winning note. Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

1/3 innings, but he did walk 4 batters. So far, Cappy has pitched 195 1/3 innings and struck out 162 batters in 32 starts. Perhaps fatigue has been a factor during the second part of the season. Capuano has had trouble with San Francisco in the past, and he has a 1-6 record with a 5.21 ERA against them in his career. Most of the current Giants have only had a smattering of at bats against Cappy, but he will of course have to fend off the annoying Buster Posey who has gone deep against him before.

The Giants will counter with left-hander Barry Zito. The reliable veteran has been pretty mediocre, but he has helped the Giants win during the span of his last 10 starts. He has actually won 4 games in a row. Last time out against the D-backs, Zito allowed 3 runs on 6 hits over 6 innings of work. The Dodgers lost to Zito back on September 9th in San Francisco after he shut them out over 6 1/3 innings. Barry has pitched 178 1/3 innings so far, but only has 108 strikeouts. He is 8-10 with a 3.74 ERA against the Dodgers in his career. Matt Kemp has just clobbered him to a tune of .455 with 2 homeruns and 7 RBI. Adrian Gonzalez has also had his way with Zito, and he is hitting .316 with a homerun and 5 RBI against him. Juan Rivera also has a homerun against the lefty, so we may see him in a pinch-hitting situation.

If the Dodgers can just survive tonight with a win and a Cardinals loss, we legitimately have a chance. Tomorrow Clayton Kershaw is slated to start against Ryan Vogelsong in the finale game. Tonight at 5:15 pm Pacific Time the Cardinals will have Chris Carpenter on the mound, and the Reds will counter with Mat Latos. The Reds are

Barry Zito beat the Dodgers the last time we faced him in San Francisco. Photo: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

still competing in order to secure the best record in the NL. The Giants will end up as the third seed. With a little luck and a whole lot of Blue hope, the Dodger could force a tiebreaker game at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. Momentum is crucial in baseball, and right now the Dodgers have that energy on their side.

KCAL will televise the game at 7:10 pm. Be sure to come back to read our postgame recap. Enjoy the game! Let’s go Reds!