Dodger Lead Grows

By Jason Reid

Sept. 24, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO — With the San Diego Padres reinvigorated and another National League West showdown looming this weekend, damage control topped the Dodger agenda Thursday night .

They exhaled for a moment after a 9-6 victory over the Padres in front of a sellout crowd of 42,159 at Petco Park.

The NL West leaders broke out on offense after having struggled in their previous two games against the Padres, racing out to a 7-0 lead in the fifth inning against the division’s third-place team.

The Dodgers (87-65) won for only the fourth time in 11 games, salvaged a victory in the series and increased their lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants (86-67), who lost Thursday, to 1 1/2 games.

The Giants play host to the Dodgers -- whose magic number to clinch the NL West title is nine with 10 games to play -- in a three-game series beginning tonight at SBC Park.

Maintaining the division lead meant a lot to the Dodgers, who haven’t had many encouraging moments lately.

“This weekend becomes very interesting in that we could really put ourselves in a terrific position,” said Manager Jim Tracy, whose team improved to 3-3 on their final regular-season trip.

“We realize, obviously, that there are 10 games left to play. Every single one of them could have significance, and how many are insignificant is up to us.”

Leadoff batter Cesar Izturis and cleanup hitter Adrian Beltre led the Dodgers to their best performance on offense in the series.

Izturis hit his fourth home run to get the Dodgers started in a two-run third, and Beltre had three of the team’s 14 hits.

Steve Finley, who had two hits, contributed a run-scoring double in the third -- his first hit in 25 at-bats.

The Dodgers were determined to make a stand.

“Every game is huge in this stretch,” Beltre said.

“The way the Giants have been playing, we can’t give them any space to get ahead of us.”

Yhency Brazoban (3-0), the third Dodger pitcher, worked two scoreless innings for the victory. Kazuhisa Ishii, who returned to the rotation because Wilson Alvarez has experienced hip pain recently, might move further down the depth chart after he failed to complete the fifth inning despite being staked to a seven-run cushion.

Ishii walked six in only 4 2/3 innings -- including the bases loaded in the fifth. The erratic left-hander, who finished one out short of qualifying for his first victory since Aug. 29, was charged with four earned runs.

The rotation has a 6.75 earned-run average in September.

After working a perfect eighth, closer Eric Gagne struggled in the ninth, giving up three hits and two runs. But Gagne recorded his 43rd save in 45 opportunities.

The Dodgers dealt another blow to the Padres’ faint hopes in the division and NL wild-card races. San Diego (82-71) dropped to 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. They are 4 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the wild-card berth.

“We can’t worry about the Giants losing, we have to focus on us winning,” Gagne said. “We played good tonight and that’s the way we’ve got to start playing again.”

The Dodgers were good Thursday against San Diego starter Brian Lawrence (15-13). The right-hander was working on only three days’ rest for the second time in as many starts because left-hander David Wells, who has won six in a row, had flu-like symptoms. Lawrence wasn’t sharp and lasted only four innings.

“We needed a few big innings to get going,” Shawn Green said. “To win that game and to have them [the Giants] lose is a huge bonus, especially with the way we’ve been playing.”

And so the Dodgers prepared to head north, expecting another challenge.

“We haven’t played the best baseball we’ve played all year, but we leave here playing good baseball,” Jayson Werth said. “That’s very important because we’re going to play one of the hottest teams in baseball.

“Those three games up there and the three games at our place to end the season ... that’s our season. We all know that.”