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LOS ANGELES -- Matt Kemp wasn’t there the day Yasiel Puig arrived from Chattanooga, Tenn. In fact, had Kemp not gotten hurt, Puig might have spent the season in the minor leagues, or at least had his rocket ship of a rookie season stalled on the launching pad for a while.

Kemp was in the lineup for only 11 of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 42 wins from June 22 to Aug. 7, when their pace was the best 50-game snippet the National League had seen in almost 70 years.

He got there in time to celebrate in the pool and clubhouse during the Dodgers’ NL West-clinching party in Arizona, but just barely. It was his fourth game back after missing two months.

So, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is perfectly correct to say the Dodgers can not only win without Kemp, they have won without Kemp.

But the timing isn't ideal.

News that Kemp is lost for the postseason came at an awkward moment. The Dodgers were on the field whipping up fan frenzy for their first playoff appearance in four seasons Sunday at the exact moment Kemp, inside the Dodgers' clubhouse, was informing reporters he’d been shut down for the rest of the season.

Not exactly some happy news to go sailing with into October.

But the real reason Sunday’s news left such a mark was that Andre Ethier’s availability for the first round of the playoffs hangs by a thread. Ethier might not have been an impact offensive player this season, but he was a solid contributor to the offense and a reliable glove in center field. As long as other hitters were providing the power around him, Ethier kept the Dodgers’ lineup humming along.

Ethier hasn’t run since the Dodgers shut down his running program last week in San Francisco. If he makes the roster for the Dodgers’ series in Atlanta, it figures to be as a pinch hitter.

So, yeah, Kemp’s injury might have just reduced the Dodgers’ chances of advancing to the National League Championship Series by a few percentage points or so, depending on how healthy some of the other nicked-up Dodgers are.

“It’s not going to be easy. He does big things, but, at the same time, we just have to play as a team,” Hanley Ramirez said. “Everybody knows that Matt Kemp is a great player.”

In 2013, Kemp wasn’t a great player, actually. He was an average player, maybe slightly below average for an outfielder. In Kemp’s most recent stint on the disabled list, for the ankle, the Dodgers went 36-17 without him.

But his threat gave the Dodgers’ offense more length. Pitchers have reason to fear Kemp and, to some extent, Ethier.

Now, they’ll see either Skip Schumaker, who is virtually devoid of power, or someone such as Scott Van Slyke, whom they probably have never heard of. Plus, the Dodgers’ bench gets a little worse whenever Schumaker is inserted in the starting lineup.

The Dodgers, however, are far from doomed. If Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw pitch to their capabilities, you and I could probably take up a couple lineup spots and the Dodgers could survive.

Schumaker started in center field in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the 2011 World Series, and it didn’t seem to hurt the St. Louis Cardinals much. They were world champions. If the Dodgers can get by Atlanta, Ethier should be healthy enough to play in the next round.

At times, Kemp showed glimpses of his MVP-caliber 2011 and April of 2012, when he was, arguably, the best all-around player in the game. He batted .314 with three doubles and a home run in his last 11 games, but there were also troubling signs, even in the good times. In those 11 games, Kemp struck out seven times, three more times than he walked.

He would have been particularly useful against the Braves, who could use two left-handed starting pitchers against the Dodgers in Mike Minor and Paul Maholm. The other team the Dodgers could have played, the St. Louis Cardinals, have no left-handed starters.

Before Sunday’s game, Mattingly -- a onetime batting champion and longtime hitting coach -- talked about what he saw in Kemp’s swing over the past two weeks.

“It still looks, to me, like a spring training, because you’ll see bad days then good days, good days then bad days,” Mattingly said. “To me, that’s what the early season is. You see guys who one day look like they’re getting there and the next day are out of sorts again. We haven’t seen that locked-in look like what Matt had at the end of ’11 and beginning of ’12.

“But he definitely looked more like the beginning of ’12 than the beginning of this season.”

So, the Dodgers might have seen Kemp’s comeback forestalled. And, who knows, had his ankle held up, he might have been the one leading them to World Series glory. It just seems a tad ill-informed to suggest he was the only one capable of doing it.

SAN DIEGO – Shortly after the Los Angeles Dodgers signed former All-Star closer Brian Wilson, manager Don Mattingly watched Wilson pitch a simulated game in Philadelphia. The Dodgers recorded Wilson’s fastball in the 86 mph range.

“That scared me a little,” Mattingly said.

But in relatively short order, Wilson, who is coming off the second Tommy John elbow surgery of his career, has worked into mid-90s velocity, a few miles per hour off his previous range. And, in relatively short order, he has worked his way into an eighth-inning role, supplanting struggling reliever Ronald Belisario as the primary right-handed setup man.

Wilson, who dominated San Diego Padres hitters in the ninth inning of a 4-0 win Saturday, has allowed just one run in 11 1/3 innings with the Dodgers. Only one of the 11 runners he has inherited has scored.

Tuesday could bring another new experience for Wilson: Pitching in San Francisco as a visiting player. The San Francisco Giants declined to tender him a contract last December, in the midst of his rehabilitation, and Wilson signed with the Dodgers in July.

Mattingly said he expects there to be a mix of boos and cheers if Wilson pitches in one of the three games at AT&T Park next week. He’s puzzled by the idea of people booing.

“It’s like you’re not allowed to work anywhere else. Once you work in San Francisco, you’re not allowed to work in L.A., even if they don’t want you,” Mattingly said.

Here are lineups for Sunday’s series finale in San Diego:

Los Angeles

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Michael Young 3B
7. Skip Schumaker 2B
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Zack Greinke RHP

Padres

1. Alexi Amarista LF
2. Ronny Cedeno SS
3. Will Venable RF
4. Jedd Gyorko 2B
5. Tommy Medica 1B
6. Logan Forsythe 3B
7. Reymond Fuentes CF
8. Rene Rivera C
9. Andrew Cashner RHP

SAN DIEGO -- Don't read too much into Friday night's lineup.

The fact the Los Angeles Dodgers were starting six players who spent most of the season at Triple-A, two bench guys and a pitcher who figures to be nowhere near their postseason roster is kind of par for the course after a team clinches a division title.

The Dodgers' celebration probably didn't end with that little dip in the pool that you may have heard about, but probably continued on the flight from Arizona and spilled into San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, where the team hotel sits.

What the team does beyond Friday might be more telling. Hanley Ramirez, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez -- each of whom has had some form of injury in the past two weeks -- will get plenty of rest between now and the end of the season Sept. 29.

Manager Don Mattingly spent a large part of his afternoon meeting with the Dodgers' medical staff and with the players themselves, to set up their programs for the last nine games. Mattingly said he would lean more toward resting players than fighting hard for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

"We feel like we can win anywhere," Mattingly said. "We feel like we can win on the road, but you want to be healthy."

There was some meaningful on-field activity. Ethier took batting practice on the field for the first time since injuring his ankle two weeks ago and could be playing in games by the final three-game homestand against the Colorado Rockies next weekend.

Here are the lineups:

Dodgers

1. Dee Gordon SS
2. Jerry Hairston Jr. 3B
3. Skip Schumaker 2B
4. Scott Van Slyke LF
5. Tim Federowicz C
6. Nick Buss CF
7. Alex Castellanos RF
8. Drew Butera 1B
9. Edinson Volquez RHP

Padres

1. Will Venable CF
2. Chris Denorfia RF
3. Jedd Gyorko 2B
4. Chase Headley 3B
5. Tommy Medica 1B
6. Kyle Blanks LF
7. Ronny Cedeno SS
8. Nick Hundley C
9. Robbie Erlin

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly joins Max & Marcellus to discuss clinching the NL West, players celebrating in the Diamondbacks swimming pool, and the slow start of the season.

Click here to listen to the full interview

PHOENIX -- It was an unusual division title-winning season. It started with a gradual descent followed by a massive, unrelenting climb before culminating in a short, late-season dip. But in the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves right where they expected to be all along.

They're the National League West champions, and they have designs on grander goals than that.

The Dodgers became the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot with their wild 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Thursday afternoon.

After closer Kenley Jansen got Aaron Hill to fly out to left field, the Dodgers streamed onto the field. Jansen and catcher A.J. Ellis were locked in a bear hug when Clayton Kershaw leaped onto Jansen's back. Players began putting on gray T-shirts that read, "We own the West."

The team formed a scrum, which gravitated to the second-base area before the Dodgers took their celebration inside to the clubhouse.

Ellis, in a deep hitting slump entering the game, hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning.

Hanley Ramirez is making a pretty good argument that he's the Dodgers' MVP, presuming you don't think a starting pitcher enters the discussion. The problem has been keeping him on the field. He largely was the Dodgers' offense Thursday, hammering a pair of home runs and driving in four.

Ramirez has hit 20 home runs while playing in just 81 games, his season hampered by thumb, hamstring and, lately, back issues. He was pulled in the ninth inning after appearing to pull up after running hard to first base trying to leg out an infield single.

It looked as if the Dodgers might walk into the playoffs when Ramirez hit his first home run, a three-run shot, into the left-field stands in the third inning. After the Dodgers had bumbled about for two weeks trying to get this division clinched, it seemed to ease the pressure in the dugout.

But Ricky Nolasco came unhinged in the third inning, giving up six runs on seven rapid-fire hits. With the Dodgers' bullpen a bit ragged after Stephen Fife's short start the night before, Don Mattingly left Nolasco out there and he managed to get through two more scoreless innings to give the Dodgers hope of a rally.

Yasiel Puig continued his beginner's-mistake-a-day tour getting a bad read on Jerry Hairston Jr.'s bloop to right field before Ramirez's home run. What would have gone for a base hit became a fielder's choice when Gerardo Parra easily threw Puig out at second. Afterward, Hairston was captured on camera yelling and gesturing in Puig's direction. Adrian Gonzalez later was seen in the dugout with his arm around Puig talking to him.

That's OK. The Dodgers have exactly two weeks to work out any issues before they play another game that matters.

PHOENIX -- For months, it has been out there and, at times, the question has been -- absurdly -- posed as a dilemma. How will manager Don Mattingly deal with having four everyday outfielders for three spots?

First of all, it has happened for only 10 innings out of the 152 games the Dodgers have played this season. Matt Kemp was injured in both games the Dodgers' four outfielders were all healthy, first aggravating his shoulder during an at-bat in San Francisco and then spraining his ankle sliding into home in Washington.

Second, the last thing to call it is a dilemma. When the playoffs start, it could be a massive advantage for the Dodgers. They have two right-handed hitters and two left-handed hitters, allowing them to line up favorable matchups for every game. Should they advance to the World Series, it will give them a bonafide threat at designated hitter that so few National League teams have.

So, yeah, it's not a problem.

"I like that, obviously," Mattingly said.

One would hope that, should the Dodgers have a legitimate shot at a World Series ring, the player who is benched that night would have the good taste to hide his disappointment.

"Somebody's not going to be happy," Mattingly said, "but at that point, you can't worry about that too much."

The St. Louis Cardinals' Shelby Miller has held right-handed hitters to a .202 batting average. Kemp would quite likely sit that game or, possibly, Yasiel Puig if his slump drags on that long. Pittsburgh Pirates lefty Francisco Liriano has held left-handers to a .213 average. Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier would miss that game.

"When Matt wasn't part of the equation, it puts you in a little bit of a bind with the lefties and it showed. I don't think we were really successful off lefties in general," Mattingly said.

The Dodgers have batted .258 against lefties this year.

It could be a matter of days before the Dodgers have all four players healthy. Ethier (ankle) is expected back some time next week. Crawford was back in the lineup Wednesday after missing time because of lower-back tightness.

How was Crawford's back feeling?

"Good enough," he said. "You've just got to do what you can this time of year."

* Hanley Ramirez was held out of the lineup, but Mattingly said he didn't re-injure his tight hamstring. Mattingly said it was part of the pre-planned program for Ramirez, who likely will play one out of every four games or so. They're trying to keep him sharp while avoiding a major injury.

"Play a day, off a few days, try to keep him sharp," Mattingly said. "I don't think anybody feels like Hanley's 100 percent."

Here are lineups for a game in which the Dodgers can clinch the NL West:

Los Angeles

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Michael Young 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. Nick Punto SS
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Stephen Fife RHP

Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton LF
2. A.J. Pollock CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Aaron Hill 2B
5. Miguel Montero C
6. Matt Davidson 3B
7. Gerardo Parra RF
8. Chris Owings SS
9. Brandon McCarthy RHP

PHOENIX -- Don Mattingly said he wasn't feeling any urgent need to clinch the division in the next few days, but his lineup Tuesday may have suggested otherwise.

Hanley Ramirez was back at shortstop hitting third and Matt Kemp was starting in center field batting fifth.

The Dodgers have lost nine of 12 entering Tuesday and, if they can't win one of their next three games here, they're left having to look at the scoreboard for help. It's far simpler to take care of matters when the entire race is in front of them.

"I think we're probably thinking a little too much about clinching as opposed to just winning games," pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. "But at the same time, we've got a pretty good lineup out there tonight."

Mattingly said he suspected Ramirez would be healthy enough to play Tuesday when he hit off a tee Monday and felt good. Kemp ran the bases once again before Tuesday's game and Mattingly said he showed less hesitancy while rounding second. Kemp, who was activated Monday but limited to a pinch-hitting appearance, says he feels ready to play now. He has been bothered by ankle and hamstring issues much of the season.

"I'd really rather win tonight, because I know we can't clinch tonight, but we can win tonight," Mattingly said.

Here are the full lineups for tonight:

Dodgers

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Mark Ellis 2B
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Scott Van Slyke LF
8. A.J. Ellis C
9. Zack Greinke RHP

Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton CF
2. Aaron Hill 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Eric Chavez 3B
5. Martin Prado LF
6. Miguel Montero C
7. Gerardo Parra RF
8. Didi Gregorius SS
9. Patrick Corbin LHP

The best pitcher in the Japanese league has already lured both Southern California teams across the Pacific.

The Dodgers, like the Angels, have scouted Japanese right-handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, according to a source. Tanaka is 21-0 with a 1.24 ERA for the Rakuten Eagles and he could benefit from what is a mediocre crop of free-agent pitchers on the market this fall.

The Dodgers signed a 19-year-old Japanese prospect, Takumi Numata, to a minor-league deal Monday. They likely scouted Tanaka while they were there.

The Dodgers will go into 2014 with Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu in their rotation, but they have some uncertainty beyond that. Ricky Nolasco will be a free agent and Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett are coming off serious injuries.

Speculation is that teams could have to pay $25 million or more to Tanaka’s team just to win the right to negotiate with him. The Dodgers paid Ryu’s Korean team $26 million before signing him to a six-year, $36 million deal in December.

PHOENIX -- Matt Kemp is back, but how much will he be able to do?

Kemp's name was listed among the Dodgers reserves for Monday's game and, after watching his pregame workout, the team activated him. Manager Don Mattingly said he would be limited early on to pinch-hitting duties. Should he get on base, the Dodgers would need a pinch runner.

Kemp took batting practice and launched a ball over the high yellow line 407 feet from home plate at Chase Field, but hitting is not the issue.

Mattingly said Kemp looked "tentative" running the bases before the game, sparking the debate about whether to activate him or give him a few more simulated games to get the at-bats to prepare for the rest of the season. Kemp's injured ankle has healed, but his right hamstring tightened up again during his rehab.

"Honestly, if I have any more setbacks, my season might be over with, and I don't want that to happen, so we're being a little cautious with it," Kemp said. "I feel like I can play right now."

The Dodgers could particularly use Kemp now with Andre Ethier dealing with an ankle injury that figures to keep him out at least another week and Carl Crawford sporadically available due to a tight back.

Kemp has missed 86 games with ankle, shoulder and hamstring ailments.

"This season has been tough. It's been something of a nightmare," Kemp said. "Once one thing gets better, then it's another thing. It's been a bunch of things going on and I haven't been healthy. Honestly, I feel like I can help this team."

Here are lineups for Monday's game, with the Dodgers looking to lop off two games from their magic number of four:

Los Angeles

1. Nick Punto SS
2. Mark Ellis 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Yasiel Puig RF
5. A.J. Ellis C
6. Skip Schumaker CF
7. Juan Uribe 3B
8. Nick Buss LF
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu

Arizona Diamondbacks

1. A.J. Pollock CF
2. Willie Bloomquist LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Martin Prado 3B
5. Aaron Hill 2B
6. Gerardo Parra RF
7. Chris Owings SS
8. Tuffy Gosewisch C
9. Trevor Cahill RHP

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers selected the contract of one of their top pitching prospects, left-hander Onelki Garcia, on Wednesday, perhaps looking to see if he can give them another post-season option for their bullpen.

But, for now, Garcia's role will be to give the Dodgers another lefty who can ease the workload on Paco Rodriguez and J.P. Howell, manager Don Mattingly said.

"Hopefully, he takes a little pressure off those guys' usage and it gives him a little experience," Mattingly said. "He was coming at the end. Our guys, our scouts, were talking about him."

Garcia, 24, is a hard thrower who went 2-4 with a 2.90 ERA in 35 games combined with Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Albuquerque this season. A native of Guantanamo, Cuba, the Dodgers took him in the third round of the 2012 draft and signed him for $382,000.

Opposing hitters batted .209 off Garcia and lefties hit .149 with 30 strikeouts.
The Dodgers put Shawn Tolleson on the 60-day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster for Garcia.

Here are lineups for Wednesday night, with the Dodgers looking to trim their magic number to clinch the NL West to just four:

Arizona
1. A.J. Pollock CF
2. Willie Bloomquist LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Martin Prado 3B
5. Aaron Hill 2B
6. Gerardo Parra RF
7. Chris Owings SS
8. Tuffy Gosewish C
9. Patrick Corbin LHP

Dodgers
1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Nick Punto 2B
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Michael Young 3B
6. Scott Van Slyke LF
7. A.J. Ellis C
8. Skip Schumaker CF
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu LHP

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti talks to Max & Marcellus about shutting down rehab for Matt Kemp but still having his back, explains why the team took the chance on signing Yasiel Puig to a $42 million contract, and discusses the much-improved bullpen.

Click here to listen to the full interview

Ron Karkovice was a first-round draft pick and a highly touted defensive catcher, but for much of his career he was stuck behind Carlton Fisk. It wasn’t until Karkovice was 28 years old (and Fisk was 44) that he finally got an opportunity to be the Chicago White Sox starting catcher.

Fisk, it has been said, was none too eager to foster Karkovice’s improvement. Such a dynamic is common in major-league clubhouses, with veterans typically wary of losing their jobs to younger talent.

The Dodgers have tried to pre-empt such an issue on their team by asking A.J. Ellis to help Tim Federowicz along.

“That’s one thing we’ve been talking about, that his job partially is to bring Fed up,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Really, we’re asking him, ‘Train Fed to take your job and then fight him off.’"

Ellis, 32, has been the Dodgers’ primary catcher for the past two seasons. Federowicz, 25, is in his first full season.

Ellis’ catcher’s ERA of 3.10 is the best in the majors, tied with his former teammate Russell Martin of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Federowicz, without the luxury of catching Clayton Kershaw when Ellis is healthy, isn’t far behind with a CERA of 3.49. He has become the personal catcher for Ricky Nolasco, who has been one of the hottest starters in the league.

Ellis said he is just returning a favor.

“I wouldn’t be the major-league catcher I am without the help of Brad Ausmus,” Ellis said. “I latched onto him and he mentored me on how to become a major-league catcher, how you need to handle yourself and how you need to prepare and what your main priority is.”

Eleven of Federowicz’s 35 starts have come since Aug. 1 and his emergence (he’s also batting .333 in his last 16 games) has allowed Ellis to get more rest than he did a year ago, when he fell into a major batting slump in September. Ellis admitted in 2012 that he had begun to wear down mentally. That should be less of a problem down the stretch this season.

DENVER – Hyun-Jin Ryu has been scratched from Friday’s scheduled start in Cincinnati because of back stiffness and will be replaced by Chris Capuano, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

The Dodgers are hoping Ryu can return to pitch Tuesday or Wednesday of next week against Arizona. Mattingly said he doesn't anticipate the injury being a long-term one.

"We're not really concerned," Mattingly said. "Again, we're just being cautious, but no matter what the separation was [in the standings] right now, he wouldn't be pitching Friday. We would make sure he was right before he went out there."

Ryu slid awkwardly into home plate while scoring a run in Friday's game, which may have contributed to the injury. He threw in the bullpen before Tuesday's game and still felt tightness.

Ryu, a Rookie of the Year candidate who signed with the Dodgers in December after pitching in South Korea, is 13-5 with a 3.02 ERA. Capuano is 4-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 21 games.

* Yasiel Puig was not in the starting lineup for a second straight game because of soreness in his upper right calf. Mattingly says he expects Puig to play Friday night and that he could pinch hit Wednesday.

* Matt Kemp had 13 at-bats in a simulated game in Arizona and Mattingly said he went 5-for-9 with four walks. Then again, there were no fielders, so that's kind of open to interpretation. Kemp is on the disabled list because of a sprained left ankle. He will stay in Arizona through the end of the week and won't re-join the Dodgers until at least Monday.

Here are lineups for Wednesday's game in Colorado, with four more regulars getting a day off:

Dodgers

1. Jerry Hairston Jr. LF
2. Nick Punto 2B
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Michael Young 1B
5. Scott Van Slyke RF
6. A.J. Ellis C
7. Juan Uribe 3B
8. Skip Schumaker CF
9. Edinson Volquez RHP

Rockies

1. Dexter Fowler CF
2. Josh Rutledge 2B
3. Troy Tulowitzki SS
4. Michael Cuddyer RF
5. Wilin Rosario C
6. Todd Helton 1B
7. Nolan Arenado 3B
8. Charlie Blackmon LF
9. Jorge De La Rosa LHP

DENVER -- If you didn’t know Ricky Nolasco was this good, you’re not alone. He pitched a lot of good innings and won a lot of games with the Miami Marlins for eight years without people ever really making much of a fuss over him.

“I’ve been hiding in Miami, but I’m not going to complain,” Nolasco said. “I like flying under the radar.”

Soon, everyone’s radar will be too keenly attuned to fly under. It’s hard to be invisible in the playoffs. With a postseason berth getting closer and closer by the day, the Los Angeles Dodgers have turned this stretch of their season into an evaluation period, a chance to sift through their roster to determine roles, some of them crucial, for October.

The Dodgers are lucky enough to have a solid month to ferret out answers. The league announced the playoff schedule Tuesday, and the Dodgers wouldn’t begin postseason play until Oct. 3.

Plenty of time to field the roster best suited for marching through the rigors of the playoffs.

After Tuesday’s 7-4 win over the Colorado Rockies and another loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers now have a 13½-game lead in the NL West. Their magic number is 12. The earliest they could clinch would be Tuesday, but it’s more likely they’ll be celebrating with the San Francisco Giants in town -– how much would Dodgers fans love that? -– in one of the games between Sept. 12 and 15.

In the meantime, some questions have emerged.

Could Nolasco, who has been largely dominant his past three starts, overtake Hyun-Jin Ryu for the No. 3 spot in the Dodgers’ rotation, a crucial distinction in a best-of-five first-round playoff series?

Which of the young relievers, and which of the reclaimed veterans, will merit that final bullpen spot? Could Michael Young or Jerry Hairston Jr., two battle-tested veterans, be in danger of not securing one of the bench spots on a 25-man roster?

They refuse to admit they’re thinking that far ahead. Nolasco has never pitched in the playoffs, and it’s impossible to believe he hasn’t started thinking about it -– particularly that he’s now on his hometown team –- but that’s what he says.

“Once we finish the season, we’ll start thinking about that,” he said.

Young made his Dodgers debut Tuesday, and it wasn’t particularly scintillating, though he had a single to fuel a key ninth-inning rally. Young hit into a rally-killing double play in the first inning and struck out twice to go 1-for-5.

These are important times for the new guys –- and other Dodgers on the bubble -- to cement themselves in the team’s October plans.

The Dodgers will get a look at another recent acquisition, reclamation project Edinson Volquez, who is starting Wednesday’s game in an audition for a possible postseason role. All of general manager Ned Colletti’s pickups have been solid or better. Carlos Marmol hasn’t allowed a run since July.

But Colletti’s biggest score, by far, has been Nolasco. Acquired from the Marlins on July 6 for three minor league pitchers, Nolasco is 7-1 with a 2.27 ERA for the Dodgers.

Tuesday’s wasn’t his most artful start, but it was more than adequate. Nolasco has looked better than what the Dodgers bargained for, a solid No. 4 starter.

He cruised through the first four innings, allowing just two base runners, but the Rockies got a better handle on him the third through the lineup. Charlie Blackmon hooked a double into the right-field corner and the pitcher, Jhoulys Chacin, shot a single to right to drive in one run.

Nolasco’s previous outings were both eight-inning shutouts.

Manager Don Mattingly conceded before the game that, aware of the Dodgers’ massive lead, he is beginning to rest the team’s regulars. Hanley Ramirez, Juan Uribe and A.J. Ellis were all off; he said Yasiel Puig, bothered by a nagging calf injury, would have tried to play if Tuesday were a playoff game.

But the watered-down lineup proved scrappy. That's how it has been lately. It doesn't matter who they throw out there. Nick Punto went 4-for-5, Skip Schumaker scored a run, Tim Federowicz went 2-for-3 with an RBI. The biggest hit was Carl Crawford’s two-out, two-run single into the left-field corner.

The Dodgers lately have been able to beat the inferior teams even when fielding their least-competitive lineups.

So, yeah, a lot of the next few weeks will be spent watching games, finding clues to how players will perform under October pressure. But let’s not forget, the bulk of the evaluation has taken place over the past five months.

“If we don’t know them by now, then it’s our fault,” Mattingly said.

DENVER – Tuesday might be remembered as the day the Dodgers eased their foot off the gas pedal.

Yasiel Puig told the Dodgers he could play Tuesday, one day after tweaking a sore right knee, but he was held out of the lineup anyway for caution’s sake and might also miss Wednesday’s game. Hanley Ramirez got the day off, too, as did A.J. Ellis and Juan Uribe.

Wednesday, Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford and perhaps Adrian Gonzalez will get days off, manager Don Mattingly indicated. Edinson Volquez will make a spot start (despite an 8.39 career ERA at Coors Field) to give the team’s pitchers extra rest.

It’s not that the Dodgers aren’t interested in catching the Atlanta Braves for the best record in the National League and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. It’s just that they view getting their players rested and healthy for the postseason as the bigger imperative.

The fact that they’re able to begin the process nearly a month from the start of the playoffs could be a huge edge. The Dodgers went into Tuesday’s game with a 12 ½ game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks, their magic number to clinch the West just 14 games.

“If there was a game separating us or we were a game back, I think we’d do it differently, but you have to use common sense,” Mattingly said. “But still, when I write that lineup today, I expect to win.”

Here are the rest of the lineups for Tuesday’s game vs. the Colorado Rockies:

Los Angeles

1. Carl Crawford LF
2. Nick Punto SS
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Michael Young 3B
5. Andre Ethier CF
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. Skip Schumaker RF
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Ricky Nolasco RHP

Rockies

1. Dexter Fowler CF
2. DJ LeMahieu 2B
3. Troy Tulowitzki SS
4. Michael Cuddyer RF
5. Wilin Rosario C
6. Todd Helton 1B
7. Nolan Arenado 3B
8. Charlie Blackmon LF
9. Jhoulys Chacin RHP