Dodgers-Diamondbacks a lot like Demolition Derby

LOS ANGELES -- Considering the caliber of teams going at it, this pennant race may not seem like much.

But it's the only one we've got.

So close your eyes, forget the records, pretend they are powerhouses and get ready for the "biggest series of the year" (in the words of catcher Russell Martin) as the Los Angeles Dodgers prepare to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks for three games over the weekend at Chavez Ravine.

Of course, every series from here on out becomes the biggest series of the year for contenders. But since this is the last time these two National League West leaders are scheduled to meet this season, there's an extra snap to it.

"We need every game right now," said Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, whose team trails the Diamondbacks by 1-1/2 games going in. "Your goal at the beginning of the year is to win as many series as you can. Now we're looking at every game."

So maybe the Dodgers and Arizona don't bring to mind the 1927 New York Yankees, even if you merged the two teams together.

Winning as many games as they lose has turned out to be a major challenge for both. The Diamondbacks start the day three games over .500, the Dodgers right at that mark.

But Dodgers manager Joe Torre stopped worrying about what the won-lost record was quite a while ago, when he realized Arizona was as erratic as his own team.

"No one had gotten away from us," said Torre, who couldn't have picked a better year to escape the American League East, where his former New York Yankees team is 10 games over .500 but way back in third place for both the division title and the wild-card spot.

But that's Joe Girardi's problem. Torre just needs one good month of ball.

"At this point, it's just about how much (ground) you have to make up and how much time you have to do it," he said. "It's match play, one at a time."

The Dodgers and D'backs don't have much bitter history between them, like say, the Dodgers and Giants or even the Dodgers and Padres. Maybe that's another reason it feels like the fight for the division title has unfolded in ultra-slow motion, less a race and more of a stumble.

A week ago, the Dodgers looked as if they had played themselves out of it. They were wrapping up an eight-game losing streak that had put them 4-1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks.

"We dug ourselves a hole," said Torre.

They still had two more games in Arizona, against two of the league's best pitchers, Dan Haren and Brandon Webb.

Shocking the world -- but maybe not D'backs fans, whose team is currently in its own 4-8 funk -- the Dodgers beat both right-handers.

And then they kept on winning this week when they got home, sweeping three games from woeful San Diego.

"As long as you've been around this game, you know how quickly things can turn around," Torre said. "You win five games, and it can do a lot."

In the NL West, it revived pennant hopes.

By the provident hand of the schedule makers, the Dodgers get to test themselves the first two games of the series against Haren (Friday night) and Webb again. Blake said he believes last weekend's success may serve the Dodgers well.

"Those are two awesome pitchers, but it's not like we're going to be afraid," he said. "We should have a little more confidence, knowing we just beat them."

Said Martin, "I don't think we'll be overconfident against them. We know they didn't have their best stuff when we faced them last week. We'll expect ace Webb and ace Haren.

"We know we'll have to play our best, play small ball to beat them."

Someone asked Manny Ramirez about the showdown weekend.

"They're the best team in the National League," he said of Arizona. "We'll have to play hard."

So, OK, maybe he hasn't had a chance to check the actual standings, since he's been in LA only five weeks, and maybe Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Houston would have a difference of opinion.

But no harm done.

There should be an air of excitement around Dodger Stadium this weekend, in the same way there's excitement when a couple of demolition derby cars get locked up by their bumpers, with their transmissions stuck in reverse. Sooner or later, one of them figures to belch smoke and die.

Not that this weekend will settle things, either. In the NL West, a pennant race is a hard thing to kill.

(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)