LOS ANGELES — For most of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants moved in lockstep.
The Dodgers have held first place in the National League West every day but one since April 16. The Giants have held second place for nearly all of that time.
However, the Giants haven’t cut into the Dodgers’ lead. Since the All-Star break, the margin has been no higher than 3 1/2 games, no lower than 1 1/2.
A three-game series between the rivals beginning Monday at Dodger Stadium gives the Dodgers a chance to put some distance between the two teams.
“There’s definitely a little more fire there,” Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford said of the matchup. “I’m pretty sure they ramp it up when they play us, and we need to do the same.”
The matchups haven’t gone in the Dodgers’ favor so far this season. Los Angeles is 3-9 in head-to-head meetings against the Giants, dropping all six games in San Francisco.
That head-to-head dominance matters a little bit, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.
“We haven’t proven that we can beat them on a regular basis,” Mattingly said. “In the same breath, those games are behind you and we’re not going to get them back, so those don’t even matter anymore. We’re in the present … It’ll be right in front of us.
“To me, we can build them up or build them down, whatever. It always gets back to execution of pitches, coming up with a big at-bat, making plays. It really is to me that simple. That being said … I do think those games are important because they are head to head. This is one series here and we’ve got another one at their place. You want to keep those guys as far back as possible.”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy also varied from the standard, every-game-is-worth-same script, saying, “This series coming up is a critical series. We know it. It’s that time of the year. You look forward to series like this, especially when you’re behind. We need to win ballgames. It’s that simple.”
The Dodgers enter the series heading in the wrong direction — at least on offense. Los Angeles was no-hitter Sunday night by Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta in a 2-0 loss to Chicago.
It was the second time in 10 days that the Dodgers’ expensive lineup was no-hit, following an Aug. 21 gem by Astros right-hander Mike Fiers in Houston. No NL team ever was no-hit twice in so short a span.
“The last one bothered me more,” Mattingly said about Fiers’ performance. “I thought we got out of the strike zone way too much and didn’t feel like we were really ready to play. Tonight (against Arrieta), I felt like we were in the game all night.”
