New York @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 19, 2013 ) LA Dodgers 6, NY Yankees 0

Derek Jeter's timing could not have been better - even if it came 48 hours before the New York Yankees headed to Hollywood to open an abbreviated two-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jeter hit the first pitch he saw out of the park - New York's first homer since the All-Star break - to spark the Yankees' 6-5 walk-off victory over surging Tampa Bay on Sunday. "He's a movie, is what he is," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Jeter's flair for the dramatic.

New York handed the Rays only their fourth defeat in 25 games, but they will face an equally red-hot club in the Dodgers, who are 26-6 over their last 32 games. Los Angeles took three of four from Cincinnati over the weekend - allowing two runs in the final three games - to move 2 1/2 games ahead of Arizona atop the National League West. The Dodgers are also coming off a walk-off 1-0 win, courtesy of Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig's 11th-inning homer Sunday.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, YES (New York), KCAL (Los Angeles)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH Andy Pettitte (7-8, 4.39 ERA) vs. Dodgers RH Zack Greinke (8-3, 3.49)

Pettitte lost his second straight start but pitched much better last time out in Texas, giving up two runs in six innings to halt a string of seven straight outings with at least four runs allowed. He has not struck out more than four batters in any of his last five starts and has surrendered five homers in that span. Dodgers SS Hanley Ramirez is 6-for-10 with two doubles and three RBIs versus Pettitte.

Greinke lost for the first time in 5 1/2 weeks when he gave up four runs and a pair of homers in a 5-2 loss to Cincinnati on Thursday. Greinke was 5-0 in his previous six outings and had yielded only one run and 11 hits over a span of 22 innings before running into the Reds. He is 2-4 with a 6.45 ERA in 11 career appearances (eight starts) versus the Yankees, but is 5-1 at home this season.

WALK-OFFS

1. A lawyer for Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez said Monday that an appeal is planned if Major League Baseball suspends the injured slugger.

2. Ramirez is riding a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base in 36 consecutive contests.

3. Yankees LF Alfonso Soriano, acquired from the Chicago Cubs last week, went 4-for-5 with a homer and drove in the game-winning run Sunday.

PREDICTION: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3