Dodgers vs. Padres Thread

The Dodgers have lost three straight since securing a playoff spot on Saturday night. Colorado didn't do the Dodgers any favors, beating Milwaukee 7-5 in 11 innings.

The latest results forced the Dodgers to keep on ice the champagne they had lugged with them from Pittsburgh, where they lost three of four to the Pirates, the NL's second-worst team.

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Heath Bell, who turned 32 on Tuesday, pitched a perfect ninth for his NL-best 41st save in 47 chances, striking out Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and James Loney.

"We had a couple of opportunities with a couple of men on base and came up short," Torre said. "The pitching was good. We didn't do anything offensively."

The last thing the Padres want is to see the hated Dodgers celebrate on their field.

"It means a lot because we are not in the hunt, we're not in the playoffs," Kouzmanoff said. "It's fun to go out and try to hurt them and try to disrupt them from being in the hunt."

With his Hall of Fame father doing color commentary on the local cable broadcast, Gwynn hit a drive down the right-field line with two outs in the third inning for a 1-0 lead. It was his second home run of the season.

The Dodgers tied it in the sixth when Orlando Hudson hit a leadoff triple into the gap in right-center field and scored when rookie shortstop Everth Cabrera booted Andre Ethier's grounder.

That brought up Ramirez, and Padres manager Bud Black pulled rookie left-hander Cesar Ramos, who was making his first big league start, in favor of rookie righty Ryan Webb (2-0), who got the slugger to hit into a double play. Kemp grounded out to end the inning.

Ramirez missed an 11-1 loss Monday at Pittsburgh with tightness in his left hamstring. He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts on Tuesday night.

Chad Billingsley walked the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth before Kouzmanoff singled up the middle to bring in David Eckstein with the go-ahead run. Adrian Gonzalez was thrown out trying to score from second.

Billingsley (12-11) lost for the fifth time in his past seven starts. He hasn't won since Aug. 18 against St. Louis. He allowed two runs and two hits, struck out five and walked five in six innings.

"I threw the ball well today," Billingsley said. "I had good command throughout the game; just the one pitch to Tony Gwynn where I missed my spot. Can't do anything about that. Overall I was very happy."

Billingsley has yielded a home run in seven of his past eight starts, and Gwynn's shot was the 17th allowed by the right-hander this season, extending his career high.

San Diego added a run in the seventh on Hong-Chih Kuo's wild pitch.

The first two Dodgers batters of the game reached and neither scored. Rafael Furcal singled to left to extend his hitting streak to 12 and Hudson walked. Ethier hit into a 4-3-6-5 double play, where the Padres had Hudson in a pickle between first and second, then let him advance as they caught Furcal at third after he took a step too many toward home, then tried to get back to the base.

The Dodgers stranded two runners in the sixth.

Ramos, making his fourth big league appearance, allowed one run and four hits in five innings.

Notes

• Torre said left-hander Randy Wolf will start Friday night at home against the Rockies, but beyond that, he didn't name starters for the rest of the weekend series. However, he said LHP Clayton Kershaw, who missed three weeks with a right shoulder injury, needs to throw about 90 pitches this weekend.
• Torre will have to cut his six-man rotation to four for the playoffs.
• Los Angeles' Casey Blake and Ronnie Belliard both continued to sit out with injuries.
• Gonzalez walked three times to extend his career high to 113 and take over the NL lead over Albert Pujols and Adam Dunn, each with 112.

Los Angeles matched its season high with its fourth consecutive loss Wednesday night, managing only one hit in a 5-0 loss to Clayton Richard and the San Diego Padres.

The Dodgers failed once again to secure its second successive division title for the first time since 1977-78. They beat Pittsburgh 8-4 on Saturday night to wrap up a playoff berth.

•  Playoff Race | Rockies 10, Brewers 6

"There's really not a lot to be said," Los Angeles manager Joe Torre said. "It's an interesting situation because we haven't clinched the division but we're still going to the playoffs. We certainly don't want to finish the season on a bum note because momentum-wise it doesn't help you in the postseason."

The Dodgers' lead was trimmed to 2½ games by Colorado, which beat Milwaukee 10-6 and now controls its destiny. The Rockies host the Brewers on Thursday before finishing the season with three games against the Dodgers in Southern California.

Los Angeles' lead for the home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs was cut to a half-game on Philadelphia, which beat Houston 10-3 to clinch the East title.

You want to win the division, absolutely," pitcher Jon Garland said. "It means a lot to everyone on the team, the organization, fans. But it doesn't matter if we have home field or not because you have to win on the road. If you can't win on the road, you're not going to be successful."

The Dodgers had a six-game lead with seven games remaining after winning on Saturday. Los Angeles has dropped six of eight overall, all on the road to sub-.500 teams.

"We'll be OK," Matt Kemp said. "As soon as we win a game, all the talk will be over and we can get ready for the playoffs. We control what happens to us."

Kemp's first-inning single was the only hit against the trio of Richard (5-2), Mike Adams and rookie Luke Gregerson. Five of San Diego's eight shutouts have come in September.

Richard, a rookie left-hander acquired from the Chicago White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade, walked three, struck out two and allowed only one runner to reach second.

"You never want anyone celebrating on your home field," Richard said. "I know we're not in position to celebrate, but we wanted to postpone their party."

Los Angeles has had champagne on ice since Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Unable to wrap up the division to this point, the Dodgers could clinch on their day off if the Rockies lose to the Brewers.

"We'll take a day off, which we need, get home and loosen up a little bit," Garland said. "We'll be fine."

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a three-run homer for San Diego, which has gone 10-4 in September against NL West playoff contenders Los Angeles, Colorado and San Francisco.

"We talked about playing contending teams tough," Padres manager Bud Black said. "It's a measuring stick."

The Dodgers (93-66), who are in the playoffs for the third time in four seasons, have scored one run or fewer four times in their past six games.

Kouzmanoff hit his 18th home run off Garland (11-13) in the third inning to put the Padres ahead 4-0.

Rookie Everth Cabrera scored a run on a bizarre play in the fourth. Third baseman Mark Loretta collided with Cabrera in a rundown. As Loretta fell to the turf, he grabbed Cabrera's leg while the rookie was attempting to get back to third. Loretta was charged with an error and Cabrera was awarded home on the obstruction call.

Garland allowed five runs, four earned, and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Notes

• When asked if the club will celebrate Friday if the Rockies lose Thursday, Torre said: "Yeah, I'm not going to invite everybody over to my house."
• San Diego has thrown three combined one-hitters this season and has 23 one-hitters in its history. The Padres are one of four clubs who have never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter.
• Torre said LHP Clayton Kershaw will start Saturday against Colorado.
• Dodgers RHP Hiroki Kuroda reported a stiff neck after running on Tuesday.
• Los Angeles 3B Casey Blake (strained left hamstring) missed his eighth consecutive game and Ronnie Belliard (groin) sat out his second successive game.