Familiar foes: Dodgers, Giants square off again

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants meet for the third time already this season when they open a three-day, four-game series Friday night.

The four games were squeezed into three days because of a rainout in the first game of the clubs' previous series at San Francisco.

The teams have split six games over the first two series.

The Giants opened the season with consecutive 1-0 wins at Los Angeles, only to have Dodgers pitching dominate the next two games 5-0 and 9-0 to earn a 2-2 split.

After the rainout April 6, the clubs went extra innings in consecutive games in San Francisco, with the Giants winning 7-5 in 14 innings before the Dodgers once again salvaged a series split with a 2-1 triumph in 10 innings.

The Dodgers return to San Francisco having won four straight on the road. They are coming off a 3-3 homestand that included losing two of three to Miami.

Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-0, 1.99 ERA), who had one of the wins on the homestand, is Friday's scheduled starter for the Dodgers.

He's pitched brilliantly after getting a no-decision in his season debut at Arizona, beating Oakland, San Diego and Washington in succession while allowing only two runs in 19 innings.

Interestingly, the Giants might benefit in the series opener by the fact that their starter, left-hander Derek Holland (0-3, 4.98), enters the game winless and unheralded.

Ryu admitted his head-to-head with Stephen Strasburg helped motivate him in one of the best starts of his career against the Nationals last weekend, a game in which he shut out Washington on two hits over seven innings in a 4-0 victory.

"It was definitely an intriguing matchup to go against a guy like Strasburg," Ryu insisted. "He's one of the best righties in the league. It definitely helped me focus more. I wanted to do well."

Ryu has not done particularly well against the Giants in his career. He has a 4-6 record with a 3.38 ERA in 12 starts, with all four wins (along with three losses) coming in his seven starts in San Francisco.

The 31-year-old has not faced the Giants yet this season.

Ryu will see a lineup that has overpowered opponents of late, with San Francisco having won three of its last four games.

Led by Mac Williamson, who has homered three times in five games since being promoted from Triple-A, the Giants have hit homers in seven of their last eight games,.

Ryu has allowed only one home run all season.

San Francisco will counter with the aforementioned Holland, who remains in search of his first win as a Giant.

Holland was on the losing end of the Giants' first loss of the season, the 5-0 defeat in Los Angeles, allowing five runs (three earned) in five innings. He gave up three hits and three walks, and struck out four.

Having rested three right-handed bats in the series finale Wednesday against Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer, the Giants are expected to have Williamson, Buster Posey and Evan Longoria back in the lineup against Ryu.

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy can't wait to see more from Williamson.

"He had a good spring swinging the bat and he's already shown it's something he can maintain," the veteran skipper observed. "Knock on wood, it will continue."