(Sports Network) - Tim Lincecum will make one last case for the NL Cy Young Award this afternoon when he leads the San Francisco Giants in the finale of a three-game series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park.

Lincecum is 17-5 with a 2.66 earned run average and a major league-best 252 strikeouts in 33 games (32 starts) this season. However, the youngster has dropped back-to-back starts and was beaten by Colorado the last time out on Tuesday after giving up six runs in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-4 setback.

The right-hander opened the 2008 campaign on April 2 at Los Angeles and earned the win with four innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 victory. Lincecum is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two lifetime appearances (one start) against the Dodgers.

San Francisco has lost four of five and nine of its last 12 games, including Saturday's 2-1 setback in the second test of this series. Randy Winn homered and starting pitcher Matt Cain took the loss after he gave up two runs on eight hits in seven innings of work while walking four and striking out six. The Giants, whose last playoff appearance was 2003, have lost 90 or more games for the second straight year.

Los Angeles captured the NL West title and will begin postseason play this week. It ended a two-game losing streak yesterday and won for the third time in five tries as Blake DeWitt homered and drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.

Rafael Furcal ended with two hits for the Dodgers, who will open the playoffs next week against either the Chicago Cubs or the Philadelphia Phillies.

Starter Greg Maddux allowed one run on two hits over six solid innings for Los Angeles to earn his 355th career victory. The historic win moved Maddux past Roger Clemens into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time list.

Rookie Hiroki Kuroda will handle pitching duties for the Dodgers on Sunday and he is 9-10 with a 3.84 earned run average in 30 starts. Kuroda is 2-0 in his previous four starts, but did not factor in the outcome of a 10-7 win over the Giants the last time out on September 20. Kuroda was reached for three runs and eight hits in four innings. The right-hander, who is 3-8 on the road this season, is 0-2 with a 6.32 ERA in three meetings with San Francisco in 2008.

The Giants are batting .362 against Kuroda.

Los Angeles leads the 2008 season series with San Francisco by a 9-8 margin, but the Giants are 5-2 in the previous seven matchups