Arizona @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 26, 2010 ) LA Dodgers 4, Arizona 5

The Los Angeles Dodgers were supposed to be competing for the National League West title when October arrived. Instead, they are just hoping to reach .500.

The Dodgers are fresh off a sweep of the Colorado Rockies and they will need to sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks over the final three games of the season, beginning with Friday’s game in Los Angeles, to finish at the break-even mark.

Doing so would keep the Dodgers from suffering a losing season for the first time since 2005.

Regardless of what occurs this weekend, the Dodgers underachieved badly in Joe Torre’s final season as manager.

Recently traded Manny Ramirez played in just 66 games due to injuries and talented center fielder Matt Kemp was an enigma. Ironman catcher Russell Martin suffered a season-ending injury and right fielder Andre Ethier’s torrid start dissolved into an average season after a May finger injury.

The Dodgers just never hit their groove and will finish in fourth place in the NL West, ahead of only the Diamondbacks, a team they have beaten 11 of 15 times entering the season-ending series.

Los Angeles sends John Ely to the mound in the series opener. Ely is 0-2 with a 7.47 earned-run average in three September starts.

Ely lost to the Diamondbacks last Saturday when the two teams met in Phoenix. He gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

This will be Ely’s 18th start of the season. He has a 4-9 record and 5.10 ERA.

Arizona left-hander Zach Kroenke makes his first major-league start after pitching twice in relief earlier this month.

Kroenke has a 21.60 ERA in 1 2/3 innings. He was primarily a reliever for Triple-A Reno but did start nine games before his recall.

Kroenke got the starting gig when Arizona decided to skip rookie Daniel Hudson’s final start of the season due to a finger injury. Hudson was spectacular for the Diamondbacks after being acquired from the Chicago White Sox, going 7-1 with a 1.69 ERA in 11 starts.

The Dodgers have also shut down a key pitcher, as left-hander Clayton Kershaw won’t pitch this weekend after tossing 204 1/3 innings this season. Kershaw went 13-10 with a 2.91 ERA and 212 strikeouts.

Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds (thumb) returned to the starting lineup Thursday against San Francisco and went 0-for-3. Reynolds is batting .198 over the second half of September, including a stretch where he was hitless in his 19 at-bats and went 1-for-26.

Veteran catcher Brad Ausmus will manage the Dodgers on Friday as Torre continues a tradition of letting a player manage a late-season game.