DODGERS / THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY-THURSDAY VS. SAN DIEGO

Schedule: 7 tonight; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 7 p.m. Thursday.

* Television: Fox Sports West 2, all three nights.

* Radio: XTRA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Pitching matchups: Chan Ho Park (4-4, 5.26 ERA) vs. Sterling Hitchcock (4-6, 4.78) tonight; Ismael Valdes (5-6, 3.60) vs. Woody Williams (2-5, 3.76) Wednesday; Darren Dreifort (6-5, 5.96) vs. TBA Thursday.

* Last series: The Padres won two of three games in mid-April. Andy Ashby pitched a five-hitter in a 3-0 victory in the first game. In the second game, Devon White’s sixth-inning, pinch-hit homer broke a 3-3 tie and the Dodgers won, 7-3. In the third game, former Angel Phil Nevin’s pinch RBI double in the eighth inning helped the Padres to a 4-3 victory.

* About the Padres: Padre management pared its payroll in the off-season, and the results have been predictable. The Padres are last in the NL West. However, the Padres do have Tony Gwynn’s 3,000th career hit to look forward to. Gwynn has 2,982, and should become the 22nd player to reach that plateau early next month, though he is day-to-day with a calf injury.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY AT SAN FRANCISCO

* Schedule: 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday.

* Television: Channel 5 Friday; Channel 11 Saturday, ESPN Sunday.

* Radio: XTRA (1150), KWKW (1330), all three games.

* Last year’s series: The teams split 12 games. Raul Mondesi terrorized Giant pitching, hitting .459 and driving in eight runs. Ismael Valdes didn’t have the same sort of luck against the Giants last year, losing both his decisions and posting an 11.42 ERA.

* About the Giants: Manager Dusty Baker is working his magic in the Bay Area once again. When Barry Bonds underwent surgery on his left arm in late April and was expected to be out until mid-July, the Giants were in danger of losing a lot of ground to the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers, each of whom spent a lot of money on free agents in the off-season. But the Giants gutted it out. Bonds returned earlier than expected, and with their star left fielder back, the Giants are 1 1/2 games behind Arizona.

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HISTORY LESSON

A look back at this week in Dodger history:

June 23, 1930: The Dodgers get 12 consecutive hits, including two home runs by Babe Herman, in a 19-6 victory over Pittsburgh.

June 23, 1973: In the second game of a doubleheader against the Reds, the Dodger infield features Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey. This is the beginning of a record 8 1/2-year stretch in which the Dodger infield stayed together.

June 27, 1980: Jerry Reuss pitches a no-hitter against the Giants.

Source: Dodger records