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Even without Manny Ramirez putting up gaudy numbers like he did last season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are still finding plenty of ways to score. The Dodgers look to continue their surge and win their fourth straight Wednesday night when they continue a three-game series against the struggling San Francisco Giants, who are trying to avoid losing their fourth in a row. After carrying Los Angeles (5-3) to the NL West title in 2008 with a .396 batting average, 17 home runs and 53 RBIs in 53 games with the team, Ramirez is batting .304 (7-for-23) with a .529 on-base percentage, but has no homers and four RBIs. While Los Angeles is waiting for its slugger to heat up, the team has been getting contributions from others in the lineup. In Monday's home opener, Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle and Andre Ethier drove in four runs with a pair of homers as the Dodgers pounded out a season-high 15 hits in an 11-1 win over the Giants (2-5). Los Angeles is outscoring its opponents 25-4 during its three-game winning streak. "It's nice to get off to this kind of start to a homestand," manager Joe Torre told the Dodgers' official Web site. "I hope we can make something out of it." Hudson became the first Dodger since Wes Parker on May 7, 1970, and the ninth in franchise history to complete the cycle. Hudson, who agreed to a free-agent deal in February after three seasons in Arizona, is batting .391 (18-for-46) with two homers, two doubles and two triples in 12 games versus the Giants since the start of last season. Ethier is hitting .389 (21-for-54) with three home runs and 12 RBIs in his last 15 games against San Francisco. He went 10-for-16 (.625) versus Wednesday's scheduled starter Matt Cain (1-0, 1.29 ERA) in 2008. Cain is 0-6 with a 4.06 ERA in 11 career starts versus the Dodgers, suffering some tough luck against them last season. Despite posting a 2.79 ERA in six starts against the Dodgers in 2008, Cain went 0-3. The right-hander was backed by a total of six runs in those outings. In three starts at Dodger Stadium, Cain allowed two runs in 18 2-3 innings, but did not receive a single run of support. Lack of offense was something that plagued Cain all of last season, as his 3.14 run-support average was second-lowest in the majors. He hopes his first outing of 2009 is a sign of things to come. Cain allowed one run and four hits in seven innings of a 7-1 win over Milwaukee on Thursday. "That's definitely a great way to start off the season," Cain told the Giants' official Web site. "Got a long ways to go. Just kind of keep it running that way." San Francisco's offense hasn't done much since then, though. The Giants had six hits Monday and are batting .211 (27-for-128) with eight runs during their losing streak. They were 30-for-100 and had scored 19 runs in their first three games. San Francisco looks to break out of its funk against Clayton Kershaw (0-0, 1.80), who makes his first career start against the Giants. In the final game of 2008, the left-hander pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the Dodgers' 3-1 loss to San Francisco. In his first outing of this season, Kershaw allowed one run, two hits and struck out six in five innings of Thursday's 4-3 loss to San Diego, but did not factor in the decision.
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