Prizes Almost Are All Gone

PHOENIX â€”  The Dodgers said they are playing for pride, hoping for an honorable ending to a once-promising season.

Maybe they should set more-attainable goals.

The reeling Dodgers were routed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-1, Saturday afternoon before 43,936 at Bank One Ballpark--officially ending their National League wild-card hopes.

The Dodgers (81-74) were mathematically eliminated from that race with their 11th loss in 14 games and the St. Louis Cardinals’ victory.

They also have dropped three in a row, acknowledging this is not the textbook way to finish the season.

“It’s all about pride right now,� catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “We need to play these games out, we need to play well and we need to play hard.

“We have to play better than this. We just have to. We don’t want it to get to the point where it starts to get embarrassing.�

The Diamondbacks (88-67) remained two games ahead of the second-place San Francisco Giants in the National League West Division. They expanded their lead to seven games over the third-place Dodgers in winning the first two games of the three-game series.

The Dodgers, who have seven games remaining, would be mathematically eliminated from the division race if they are swept.

“It’s tough,� right fielder Shawn Green said. “Obviously, we let things dwindle away the last couple of weeks. Because of that, now we’re just finishing up the season. That’s a situation you never want to be in as a player.

“Guys have to go out there and ... this is the time when you have to concentrate even harder. You have to concentrate on each at-bat and each pitch. It’s real easy to give away a week of baseball [games], and we don’t want to do that.�

In his 11th start for the Dodgers, James Baldwin (2-6) continued to struggle. The right-hander, whose earned-run average increased from 4.41 to 4.60, gave up eight hits and seven runs (five earned) in seven innings.

The Diamondbacks, winners of four in a row, took a 2-0 lead in the second after Baldwin’s throwing error.

They broke open the game, 5-0, with three runs in the sixth on Steve Finley’s 13th home run. After the Dodgers scored their run in the seventh on Eric Karros’ single, Luis Gonzalez hit his 55th homer, a two-run shot in the bottom of the inning, to extend the lead to 7-1.

“I made some mistakes,� Baldwin said. “They hit some pitches that I should have gotten in, or out, over the plate.�

Gonzalez’s 54th homer provided the difference in the Diamondbacks’ 4-3, 11-inning victory Friday.

After Saturday’s game, Manager Jim Tracy said the Dodgers were still recovering from the game-winning shot and realization that they’re finished.

“Today, we kind of felt the aftereffects of [Friday] night’s ballgame,� he said. “The ramifications of it definitely took a little bit out of us, and understandably so.�

The Dodgers had only eight hits Friday and appeared even more listless at the plate Saturday.

Miguel Batista, the Diamondbacks’ No. 4 starter, and three relievers limited the Dodgers to five hits.

Batista (11-8), who gave up four hits and a run in seven innings, defeated the Dodgers for the second time in as many starts.

The Dodgers had only four hits against the right-hander in a 10-0 loss last Friday at Dodger Stadium.

“We’ve played like this all year,� left fielder Gary Sheffield said. “When we think we have momentum, we come out the next day and blow games. It wears on you and catches up to you. It caught up to us [today].�

The Dodgers said they won’t give up.

“You want to show that you’re not giving in and you’re not giving up, because that’s the way the game is supposed to be played,� pitcher Terry Adams said. “You want to go out there and finish up with as good a year as you’ve had.

“You want to show that you don’t quit when you’re out of it, or pretty much on the edge of being out. [Teams] see if you just go out there and play the games out, or if you continue to hustle and do the job.�