Zack Greinke can lift Giant monkey off Dodgers backs

The Dodgers put their best feet forward to open their four-game champagne-chasing series against the Giants, with both aces slated to start the first two games at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Up first is Zack Greinke, returning to the mound after getting scratched last Wednesday with a sore right calf.

Greinke in his career has made nine starts against the Giants. His teams have won all nine games.

Greinke got the win in each of the last seven.

Since joining the Dodgers in 2013, Greinke has allowed 11 runs in eight starts against the Giants, with a 1.86 ERA, 52 strikeouts and nine walks in 53⅓ innings.

Greinke with the Dodgers has made two starts in San Francisco, both in 2014, and he has pitched 13 scoreless innings, with 15 strikeouts and one walk.

Greinke might need to keep those zeroes going, because the Dodgers offense hasn't scored a run in San Francisco in their last 34 innings. The Giants not only swept the Dodgers from May 19-21, but also held them scoreless in all three games.

That was the second time this season the Dodgers were swept by the Giants in San Francisco, doing the same from April 21-23, though the Dodgers managed to score two runs in each of those three defeats.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a home run against Ryan Vogelsong in the third inning on April 23, but the Dodgers haven't scored a run in San Francisco since, spanning a total of 34 innings.

Gonzalez might be back for the Dodgers on Monday night, having rested the last two games while dealing with a pinched nerve in his back. Currently in an 0-for-12 slump, Gonzalez is hitting .221/.337/.390 with three home runs in 22 games in September.

"My whole left side — my hamstring, my calf, my quad — everything feels weak and kind of dead, in a sense," Gonzalez told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times on Friday. "When I'm hitting, I feel like I have no backside. When I'm running, I feel like I can't really push off my left leg."

Rookie power

The Dodgers have had rookies hit 48 home runs in 2015, a franchise record. But the hottest-hitting rookie in baseball right now is Jarrett Parker of the Giants.

The 26-year-old outfielder has played just 15 games, including seven starts, and is hitting .400/.455/1.033 with six home runs and 12 RBI in all of 33 plate appearances.

Parker had three home runs and seven RBI in a win over the A's on Saturday, the first Giants player with three homers and seven RBI since Willie Mays in 1961.

Game info

Time: 7:15 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA