New York @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 28, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 3, NY Mets 7

Two teams spiraling in the wrong direction since the All-Star break will attempt to reverse their recent woes when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the New York Mets in a four-game series beginning Thursday night.

The Dodgers had lost six consecutive games since the break until defeating the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. The Mets are also 1-6 since the break after being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team with the second-worst record in the National League.

Los Angeles averted a three-game sweep at the hands of the Giants thanks to Chad Billingsley’s second career shutout. The victory kept the Dodgers six games behind the first-place San Diego Padres in the NL West.

The Mets lost the final game of a three-game series to the lowly Diamondbacks in 14 innings on Wednesday. New York is 6 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East.

Los Angeles won without manager Joe Torre on Wednesday. Torre was serving a one-game suspension stemming from a beanball incident during Tuesday’s loss to the Giants. Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw drew a five-game suspension.

San Francisco rallied for three ninth-inning runs Tuesday in a game that summed up the Dodgers’ post All-Star break struggles.

Closer Jonathan Broxton was attempting to protect a one-run lead when acting manager Don Mattingly visited the mound. After Mattingly left the mound area, he turned to respond to a question from first baseman James Loney and stepped back on to the mound.

The umpiring crew ruled that Mattingly made two visits to the mound, meaning that Broxton had to be removed. George Sherrill replaced Broxton and immediately gave up the decisive double to Andre Torres.

New York hasn’t been faring any better. The Mets could be 0-7 since the break but were the beneficiaries of a poor call by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi that prevented San Francisco from scoring the winning run last Sunday. The Mets later won the contest.

New York has been outscored 34-15 during the first seven games of an 11-game road trip. Despite owning one of the worst bullpens in the majors, the Diamondbacks' relief corps gave up just one hit while blanking the Mets for eight innings during the 14-inning marathon.

New York is a porous 19-30 on the road.

Both teams will start Japanese pitchers Thursday with Hiroki Kuroda (7-8, 3.74 ERA) on the hill for the Dodgers and Hisanori Takahashi (7-4, 4.69) pitching for the Mets.

Kuroda has lost three consecutive starts and is just 2-7 over the last two months. Kuroda gave up just one run and four hits in six innings while losing to St. Louis in his last outing.

Takahashi has won just once in his last five starts and has given up six earned runs in three of them. Takahashi could be in danger of losing his starting role with Oliver Perez recently activated from the disabled list.