Florida (15-13) ended April one-half game ahead of Philadelphia and the New York Mets in the division, but fell behind both clubs with a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. The Marlins committed three errors as the Dodgers capped the three-game sweep and sent the Marlins to their first three-game skid of the season.

"You can't give a team like that that extra out," veteran outfielder Luis Gonzalez - a former Dodger - told the Marlins' official Web site. "It was a tough series for us, and hopefully we've learned something from it."

While Florida wants to build on an impressive April, San Diego (11-18) hopes to forget its first month. The Padres, who were in the playoff hunt last year until they lost a tiebreaker game, ended the month with a 3-11 stretch that gave them the NL's worst record.

They hope to rebound in May, a month that has been kind to them lately. Over the previous three seasons, they're 59-25 in May, including 18-9 in 2007.

"It's probably one of those stats where a lot of small things go into it," starting pitcher Chris Young told the Padres' official Web site. "I do not think there's one thing you can attribute it to. Maybe it's being out of the division, going to different ballparks that might suit us better, as a pitching staff having our arm strength build up, and the weather warms up a little more."

San Diego didn't get off to a good start in its first May game this year on Thursday, falling 3-2 to Philadelphia to lose their sixth consecutive series.

That defeat dropped the Padres to 5-9 on the road, but Adrian Gonzalez can't be blamed for those struggles. The slugging first baseman has an 11-game hitting streak on the road, and has hit a home run in four of his last five games away from home. He's batting .368 on the road, but just .196 at Petco Park.

Gonzalez, though, is 6-for-25 (.240) with six strikeouts and no home runs lifetime at Dolphin Stadium.

He'll try to improve on those numbers against Florida starter Mark Hendrickson (4-1, 3.68 ERA), who had a four-start win streak snapped in his last outing Saturday. The left-hander gave up three runs in six innings of Florida's 4-3 loss at Milwaukee.

Hendrickson is 1-2 with a 1.83 ERA in nine career games - four starts - against the Padres, who will send right-hander Justin Germano (0-2, 6.04) to the mound.

Germano has been tagged for 16 runs and 16 hits in 8 1-3 innings spanning his last two starts, including six runs and six hits in five innings on Saturday. The Padres, though, bailed him out by winning 8-7 in 13 innings against Arizona.

Germano is making his first career appearance against Florida, which went 3-4 against San Diego in 2007, and dropped two of three at home.