Dan Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Derek Lowe of the Los Angeles Dodgers have both started the season strong. Only one of them, however, is getting help from his offense.

Haren and the hard-hitting Diamondbacks look to continue their early dominance as they open a two-game series against Lowe and the struggling Dodgers in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

In his first season with Arizona (15-5), Haren (3-0, 1.80 ERA) hasn't disappointed, ranking among league leaders in ERA and opponents batting average (.200).

Lowe (1-1, 2.59) has put together a strong start of his own, leading Dodgers starters in ERA with his lowest mark through four starts since 2005.

Lowe, however, has only been rewarded with one win because of the offensive struggles of the Dodgers, who are 13th in the NL with 83 runs scored. The right-hander got 11 runs of support in his lone victory, but has received a total of two in his other three outings - none on Friday when Los Angeles (8-12) fell 6-1 to Atlanta. Lowe was reached for five runs - three earned - in 4 1-3 innings to suffer the defeat in that game.

Haren, on the other hand, has received a major league-leading 29 runs of support from the Diamondbacks, second in the league with 125 runs scored. He got nine in his last outing on Friday, when he held San Diego to three hits in seven innings of a 9-0 victory - his third in three starts.

The Diamondbacks have scored 12 first-inning runs in Haren's four starts.

"It's kind of been the same story for me the last couple of times out - they've been able to score runs early," Haren told the Diamondbacks' official Web site. "It seems like every game we're scoring in the first."

Haren won three consecutive starts four times with Oakland last season, but the right-hander hasn't had a longer run since a six-start win streak from July 26-Aug. 21, 2006. He's 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA in three career games - two starts - against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lowe, meanwhile, is 3-6 with a 4.45 ERA in 12 career starts against the Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers are returning home after losing four games on a five-game road trip. They were held to one run in each of those losses, including an 8-1 defeat at Cincinnati on Tuesday night.

"One run - we can't keep doing that. We are better than that," Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp told the team's official Web site. "Arizona is putting up 10 runs a night and making things easier on their pitchers. We're going to turn this thing around. We'll be dangerous when everybody gets on the same page."

The Dodgers hope that happens against the Diamondbacks, who beat San Francisco 5-4 on Tuesday for their sixth win in seven games. With the best start in franchise history, the Diamondbacks have already built a six-game lead in the division - a bigger lead than they had at any point en route to the division title last year.

The Diamondbacks outscored the Dodgers 23-11 to sweep the teams' three-game series in Phoenix from April 7-9. Fourteen of their 15 wins have come against division rivals.

 

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