For the second start in a row, Chris Capuano takes the mound looking to snap a four-game Dodgers losing streak. He has put together quite a first half for the Dodgers, and with the complete disappearance of the Dodgers offense of late they will need Capuano to twirl another gem Thursday night in their series opener against the New York Mets.

The Dodgers were shutout in their last three games and they haven't scored in their last 30 innings, but the scoring problem runs deeper than that. The Dodgers scored 13 runs on their nine-game road trip and have scored two or fewer runs nine times in their last 15 games.

In June, the Dodgers are hitting .219/.295/.295 and have averaged 3.24 runs per game during the month.

Capuano hit a rough patch earlier in June when he allowed 13 runs in 15 1/3 innings in three starts, failing to last longer than 5 1/3 innings in any of the outings, with nine walks and 10 strikeouts during that span. But Capuano has one walk and 16 strikeouts in his last two starts, allowing t two runs in 15 innings during that span.

Tall Chris Young gets the start for the Mets. After making four starts in 2010 and four starts in 2011, this will be Young's fifth start of 2012. He underwent offseason shoulder surgery and signed a minor league deal with the Mets in March. After opening the year on the disabled list, Young made four minor league starts before debuting with New York on June 5. The 6'10" right-hander has eight walks and 12 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings, and he has yet to give up more than three runs in a start.

Links

• Joey Kaufman at SB Nation Los Angeles wrote that the second wild card has fewer teams willing to trade away their players, making it more difficult for the Dodgers to make a deal as we are five weeks away from the non-waiver trade deadline.
• I answered five questions about the Dodgers from Steve Schreiber at Amazin Avenue.
• David Golebiewski at Baseball Analytics noted that Dee Gordon has had trouble with fastballs this season, and that pitchers are attacking him more and more with the heater.
• We don't yet know the structure or payout schedule of the $42 million contract for Yasiel Puig, but Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reported that Puig can opt into salary arbitration if he so chooses once he reaches three years of major league service time.
  
• Keith Law at ESPN thought the Dodgers overpaid for Puig.
• Jack Moore at Fangraphs thinks the Puig deal is a positive for the Dodgers.
• I was a guest earlier today with Ted Berg on SNY, previewing the Dodgers/Mets series:
  

Game Time: 7:10 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

MLB Gameday