As Usual, This Dodger Victory a Team Effort

The Dodgers refused to give in Sunday. Kazuhisa Ishii refused to lose. Paul Lo Duca fought himself, the ball, the bat, the situation, to get the single. Shortstop Alex Cora would not let the last ball get past him. This team wanted first place again.

They are back on top. By next weekend, they might be in third. Or second. Maybe they’ll be in all three places and back to first by next Sunday.

“There is so little to separate the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Giants,” Eric Karros says, “that all three teams will spend time in first place and third place and in between before the season ends.”

The re-taking of first place, after a lonely night of being in second, after a slovenly umpired, sluggishly played four-game losing streak by the Dodgers, came because Ishii pitched with intelligence, power and finesse.

It came because Lo Duca, struggling with his hitting, broke his bat but got a run-scoring two-out single in the bottom of the fifth after Dave Roberts had coaxed a two-out walk from Diamondback starter Miguel Batista. It scored the winning run.

It came because Cora made a breathtaking play for the final Arizona out in the top of the ninth.

Matt Williams had blasted a one-out home run off closer Eric Gagne and the nerves of the Dodger nation began to jangle. The 2-0 lead had become 2-1.

Gagne had seemed tired before the All-Star game. His only blown save had come against the Diamondbacks right before the break. If this lead was squandered, the Diamondbacks would leave Dodger Stadium with a four-game sweep and this season might take an ugly turn.

So Tony Womack takes a hard swing, but Cora, deep in the hole, makes the play. He whips a wicked one-hop throw to Karros for the final out.

“That is a huge play,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said later.

This is the strength of the Dodgers. They may not be great in one thing, but they are OK at everything it takes to win.

The Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Giants are in a three-team race for two playoff spots. The wild card almost certainly will come from the NL West.

Arizona has the two starting pitchers. Everybody knows them. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.

“The Giants,” Karros said, “are one of the deepest teams in baseball. Us? We’re not the strongest at any one thing, but we’re good everywhere. Except closer. We have the best closer.”

But the Dodgers do have an advantage.

“It’s safe to say that the depth of our starting rotation is our strength,” Tracy said. In the glow of Ishii’s mature, unflinching pitching (he got an out in the eighth inning for the first time this season), Tracy needed to praise his five starters. In the almost-rubble of this series, Tracy needed Ishii more than he’s needed anything this year.

Tracy also knows that his two competitors have strong points.

“Arizona has the strength of its bench. That’s one thing the Diamondbacks have over the other two clubs,” Tracy says. “They had the strongest bench post-trade deadline last year and it’s stronger this year.”

Now that third baseman Matt Williams is healthy, the Diamondbacks can bring Craig Counsell off the bench. Greg Colbrunn and Mark Grace make a nice righty-lefty first base combination. Steve Finley is a smart, seasoned veteran.

And the Giants?

“Barry Bonds is a pretty good strength,” Tracy says. “And Jeff Kent obviously. I think the Giants have the starting lineup that is most difficult to pitch to. When you’ve got Rich Aurilia batting second, Kent third, Bonds fourth, [Reggie] Sanders fifth, that’s a pretty formidable group of people to deal with. And you are never unaware of Bonds. If he’s six batters away, you are aware of Bonds.”

Brian Jordan, a steadying personality with a thoughtful mind, gave the Diamondbacks an advantage in having Schilling and Johnson and in having experience in winning.

“They’ve figured out how to find a way to win it all,” Jordan said. “That’s big.”

He gives the Giants an advantage because of Bonds and Kent. “Those are two guys who can carry a club for a while. That’s nice to have,” Jordan said.

But he gives the Dodgers two important advantages. “We have great starting pitching and we play together. Playing together goes a very long way toward accomplishing great things.”

After watching the Diamondbacks win three games here, it is clear that the Dodgers don’t have the most talent in the division. They aren’t deep and they have expended much energy in playing so well in the first 92 games. Shawn Green seems sleepy, almost. How long will Gagne’s strength hold? How far can the Dodgers go if Adrian Beltre doesn’t start hitting better and playing with more enthusiasm at third base?

Maybe farther than we think. That’s Jordan’s point. The Dodger strength is the team.

Maybe that’s the best strength to have.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected]