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LOS ANGELES -- It might be awhile before the Los Angeles Dodgers get to test themselves against a playoff-bound team to see if they can fare a bit better than this past weekend, when the Boston Red Sox snapped them back to reality by outscoring, outhitting and outpitching them in their three-game series.

But man have the Dodgers learned how to take care of business against the dregs of the National League.

Zack Greinke coasted to his 13th win of the season and fifth in a row in a dominant 6-2 win over the woeful Chicago Cubs Monday night.

Greinke struck out nine and gave up just five hits in 8 2/3 innings of work. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until the eighth inning, when he walked Donnie Murphy and Wellington Castillo in back-to-back at bats. That precipitated a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, and Greinke got ground balls from Darwin Barney and pinch hitter Dioner Navarro to get out of the inning.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly gave Greinke every opportunity to close out what would’ve been his second shutout of the season, allowing him to hit for himself in the bottom of the inning and pitch to both Nate Schierholtz and Brian Bogusevic after giving up a two-out double to Anthony Rizzo. The crowd of 40,965 booed Mattingly’s first visit to the mound, after Grienke gave up the double to Rizzo, but with a pitch count climbing into the 120s, and hitting Schierholtz and giving up a two-run double to Bogusevic, it was time to pull him. Greinke left to a standing ovation from the crowd and Brian Wilson struck out Murphy to close out the win.

The Dodgers (77-54) are now 18-4 in Greinke’s 22 starts.

Greinke also drew first blood with his bat, singling in catcher A.J. Ellis in the fourth inning after L.A. had left four runners on base in the first three innings. Greinke continues to lead all National League pitchers with a .340 batting average after going 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI Monday night.

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LOS ANGELES -- As much fun as the Los Angeles Dodgers have had during their historically hot run this summer, their goals have always extended beyond August.

If they truly want to be remembered fondly by history and look back on their unprecedented run over the past couple of months as a turning point rather than an aberration, they will have to grind out wins in October.

Don Mattingly knows this. That's why the Dodgers manager wasn't overly disappointed after his team lost to the Boston Red Sox 8-1 Sunday, dropping their first series in more than two months.

Mattingly never wants to lose, but if the Dodgers are able to find ways to wins two months from now against the Red Sox or a similarly balanced team in the postseason, he may look back at this series as a vital lesson for a team that made everything look so easy during its run of winning 46 of 56 games.

Over the Dodgers' past two games against Boston, the Red Sox have shut out the Dodgers in all but two innings, with Adrian Gonzalez's two hits in the series against his former team giving the Dodgers their only three runs over that time. Jon Lester and Jake Peavy combined to give up only six hits and striking out 11.

"I think it's a good little lesson for us because if we're going to be fortunate enough to be doing anything and getting anywhere, that's the kind of pitching you're going to see," Mattingly said. "You're going to see teams with a game plan and with veteran pitching that know what they're doing, and you better have a game plan when you walk up there. I think for three games, all their starters basically got ahead in the count and basically pitched to a game plan. … It's a good lesson for us. You can't just show up and play. You have to be ready to play."

The Dodgers scored only five runs in the three-game series against Boston, but Mattingly isn't worried about the Dodgers' offense heading into the rest of their homestand, which includes a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, starting Monday, and a three-game set against the San Diego Padres, starting Friday.

"With good pitching you can't walk up there and just be swinging," Mattingly said. "They're going to have a game plan and if you don't understand what they're doing, they're going to wear you out and that's basically what we've seen for three days. It's what we do, but when you see a veteran staff [it's different]. They're not the young kids from Miami with the power arms that are letting you get back in the count. These guys know what they're doing and they're going to abuse you if you don't know what you're doing."

Over the past two months, the Dodgers seemingly have always known what to do, but the Boston series was always going to serve as a litmus test for them. No team in the American League has more wins than Boston, and the Red Sox and Dodgers, along with the Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves, make up the top four teams currently favored to win the World Series.

The Dodgers know they'll have to play a different kind of baseball down the stretch and in the postseason if they want to make it to their first World Series since 1988.

"That was like a playoff series for us," said Dodgers pitcher Chris Capuano, who took the loss Sunday. "It was a good test."

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LOS ANGELES -- Throughout the Los Angeles Dodgers' three-game series against the Boston Red Sox, players have been asked if they felt there was a playoff atmosphere at Dodger Stadium. If they felt this series could be a preview of things to come two months from now.

Over the past three days they've smiled at the questions, nodded their heads, and said there was something different about this interleague series and the atmosphere in the stadium.

The Dodgers, however, can only hope the results of the series aren't any indication of their playoff prospects after an 8-1 loss on Sunday night. The defeat was not only the Dodgers' second consecutive loss to the Red Sox, it gave them their first back-to-back losses at home since June 10. It was also the Dodgers' first series loss since June 16 when they dropped two of three on the road to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before Sunday, they had been unbeaten in their previous 18 series.

As was the case Saturday, Boston jumped out to an early lead and the Dodgers simply could not put any runs on the board outside of an Adrian Gonzalez at-bat.

Mike Napoli started things off in the first inning with a ground-rule double to deep right center that scored Shane Victorino. Boston added two more runs in the third and fourth innings when Dustin Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Jacoby Ellsbury, and Xander Bogaerts doubled to center to score Will Middlebrooks. The Red Sox piled on runs in the sixth and seventh innings when Jared Saltalamacchia hit a two-run blast and Victorino homered to left. And after starting things off in the first inning, Napoli put the finishing touches on the game with a two-run homer in the ninth inning.

The Dodgers' lone bright spot was Gonzalez, who hit a solo shot to center field in the fourth inning, but the Dodgers simply couldn't muster anything else against Jake Peavey, who pitched a complete game, giving up only three hits and one run.

As good as the Dodgers' pitching staff has been this summer, Chris Capuano has been viewed as the weak link of the rotation, and he did nothing to dispel that notion Sunday, pitching five innings and giving up five hits and three runs, all earned. The normally reliable bullpen wasn't much better as Chris Withrow came in and gave up two home runs in two innings of work. Brandon League then gave up the two-run shot in the ninth inning as most of the Dodgers fans were already making their way to their cars.

Of course, come playoff time, the Dodgers will lean on Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Ricky Nolasco, who posted a 2-0 win over Boston on Friday. The Red Sox were able to avoid facing Kershaw and Greinke in this series. That won't be the case if these two teams do end up meeting in an actual playoff series in October.

LOS ANGELES -- Don Mattingly says he isn't sure when Matt Kemp will be back in the lineup for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It's possible Kemp could begin a rehab assignment next week and be back with the team in September, but Mattingly hasn't been very good this season when it comes to guessing the return of players on the disabled list, so he sidestepped giving a timeline on the return of his two-time All-Star outfielder and simply said he won't play him until he's 100 percent.

"What I don't want to do is just throw him back in and put him in the middle of this thing when everything is going pretty good and he's not sharp," Mattingly said. "I really want him to be sharp when he plays. That's the biggest thing. I want him to be ready to play."

Kemp sprained his ankle July 21 and was put on the disabled list for the third time this season after being sidelined in May and June as well. In just 62 games this season, Kemp is batting .263 with five home runs and 27 RBIs.

Mattingly said Kemp has continued to improve and progress and could start to run the bases next week, with a rehab assignment after that.

"Hopefully, he gets a couple minor league games," Mattingly said. "It sounds like he had a good day today. He ran really well today, and he'll start running the bases in the next couple of days, and once you do that, guys are ready to play. Hopefully, we'll get him in some games, and if we can't do that, we'll set up some [simulation] games and get him a number of at-bats that way. I want to get him back into the mix, but I want him to be sharp when he comes. I want to give him the best chance to have success. I don't want him to be just in spring training mode."

Kemp said recently that he doesn't have pain or swelling in his ankle anymore and is targeting a return in early September.

"You want him to be able to play at full speed because you want him to not be afraid to slide and not be afraid to run into the gap and stop and make a turn, steal a base," Mattingly said. "You want him to know that he can do that."

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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers will not make any decision on Don Mattingly's future until after this season.

Team president Stan Kasten and owner Mark Walter have made that abundantly clear every time they have been asked.

Mattingly is working in the final year of his contract with a team option in 2014 looming this fall. His request to get the option picked up before the season was declined, and the team has chosen to wait until the season is over to decide his future with the team.

It's a decision that will continuously and needlessly loom over the Dodgers until they make a choice that should be crystal clear to them by now.

Mattingly should be the manager of the Dodgers next season and deserves to have his option picked up now, not two months from now.

Before Friday's game, the Dodgers announced Vin Scully would be returning to the broadcast booth next season. When Scully was asked why he decided to make the announcement now rather than after the season, he said it wasn't his idea.

"The Dodgers were the ones who felt it was the right time," Scully said. "They didn't want to wait until the last two weeks where we're facing the playoffs and all that stuff. I appreciated getting it out of the way."

The decision to announce Scully's return and Mattingly's potential return might seem like an apples-and-oranges comparison, but the motivation behind making the announcement on Scully now still applies.

Why wait on a making a no-brainer decision that would be in the best interest of the team and in the process avoid any potential distractions later?

Mattingly has avoided talking about his contract. It's one of the few questions the normally affable Mattingly hates discussing, preferring to keep the focus on the team and on the field. The problem is the longer this drags on, and the longer the Dodgers potentially play into the postseason, the bigger this story becomes when it could easily be nipped in the bud today with one meeting and one handshake.

"I'm not worried about any of that right now," Mattingly said. "I'm just worried about winning games. That's not even an issue."

It's not an issue for the Dodgers right now as they power through their schedule this summer, winning 46 of 57 games even after Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox, but it will certainly become an issue. Anytime the future of a manager is in limbo, it's an issue regardless of what anyone says.

The Dodgers' unwillingness to simply pick up the option on Mattingly's contract and commit to him for next season is almost laughable when you consider the amount of money the ownership group has thrown around since buying the team for a record $2 billion. Just last year, they made a blockbuster trade that returned them more than a quarter of a billion dollars in salary over the next five years.

Picking up Mattingly's option is the right thing to do. It's not a long-term commitment, but a good faith gesture for manager who has guided the Dodgers from the fourth-worst record in baseball on June 22 to a game out of the best record in baseball two months later.

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LOS ANGELES -- During the Los Angeles Dodgers' incredible summer, which has seen them go from nearly the worst record in baseball to nearly the best record in baseball, Vin Scully has started calling Dodger Stadium the "Magic Castle."

No opponent lead has been safe against the Dodgers at home, as they have won in walk-off fashion time after time, including erasing a six-run deficit and scoring four runs in the ninth inning to beat the Tampa Bay Rays two weeks ago.

On Saturday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox finally put a dent into the recent magic, beating the Dodgers 4-2 despite a late push by L.A. to make another magical comeback.

The Dodgers came into the game having not given up a run in their past 26 innings dating to the first inning Wednesday against Miami. But on Saturday, they gave up four to start the game. Mike Napoli started things off when he singled to center and brought home Shane Victorino. Then Jonny Gomes hit a three-run homer to give Boston all the scoring they would need to win their first game at Dodger Stadium.

Hyun-Jin Ryu, who came into the game with a 1.78 ERA at home, gave up those four runs in the first inning, which are more than in any home game for him this season. Boston's first inning stands out as an aberration two games into the series, but it was all the Red Sox needed to win the game. In the first inning, the Sox hit .500 with a home run and four runs. During the rest of the series so far, they are hitting worse than .100 with 20 strikeouts.

Sunday is the one-year anniversary of the nine-player blockbuster deal that brought Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to Los Angeles, and Gonzalez and Crawford nearly teamed up to help the Dodgers claim another comeback win at home. Gonzalez doubled to deep center in the eighth inning with two outs to score Crawford and Yasiel Puig. Gonazlez, who is now hitting an incredible .435 with runners in scoring position and two outs this season, and Hanley Ramirez, however, were left stranded after A.J. Ellis struck out swinging to end the inning and the Dodgers' last best chance to win the game.

The hit broke up a 0-for-6 drought for Gonzalez in the series against his former team. Crawford sat out the game but was brought in to pinch-hit and now has two runs in the series.

Despite the loss, the Dodgers still have won 46 of their past 57 games and have a 10-game lead atop the NL West.

LOS ANGELES -- Carl Crawford said earlier this week that he badly wanted to beat the Boston Red Sox in each of their three games.

After playing a key role in Friday’s win, he’ll be watching from the dugout as the Dodgers go for the second win Saturday.

Crawford was given the day off Saturday against left-handed pitcher Jon Lester. Manager Don Mattingly let Crawford know his decision when Crawford arrived in the clubhouse before the game. Crawford is 9-for-40 in his career against Lester with 13 strikeouts and is hitting .238 against left-handers this season.

“I visited with him before I posted [the lineup],” Mattingly said. “I want to take care of Carl from the standpoint of him being healthy the rest of the year. I’m sure he wants to play. He wants to play all the time, but it’s kind of my job to make sure I give these guys the best chance to stay healthy. We found out with Carl if you go too many days in a row then something ends up ailing him.”

Crawford was on the disabled list for a little more than a month this summer with a left hamstring strain and has also experienced back stiffness, which caused him to be scratched last month. Mattingly has talked to Crawford about easing up on the number of swings he takes during batting practice and on pushing himself physically when the Dodgers aren’t playing.

“Carl is such a hard worker,” Mattingly said. “He works so hard that we feel sometimes he works himself with too many swings. He’s doing too much. We’ve talked to him about being able to back off and also to be comfortable.”

Yasiel Puig, who is batting .342 with 12 home runs and 29 RBIs in 71 games, will bat leadoff Saturday in place of Crawford.

“He likes to hit leadoff,” Mattingly said. “I felt like a little bit of difference for him would be good. If Yasiel is on it gives him a chance to run. It’s a little bit of a change since Carl’s not there. It’s just something different for him to think about today.”

Here are the lineups for Saturday:

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LOS ANGELES -- Adrian Gonzalez didn't look like a player who had just defeated his former team as he sat in front of his locker Friday night.

His demeanor had little to do with his 0-for-3 performance at the plate during the Los Angeles Dodgers' 2-0 win over the Boston Red Sox and everything to do with not wanting to rehash a time in his life he had moved on from a year ago.

"As long as we talk about the game," Gonzalez said as he got dressed when asked whether he was ready to talk. It was not a surprising request given the number of Boston media in town to cover the game and break down the aftermath of one of the biggest trades in baseball history.

About a year ago, the Dodgers and Red Sox completed a nine-player trade in which the Dodgers took on more than a quarter of a billion dollars in salary and that completely changed the face of both teams. The deal brought Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to Los Angeles, making the Dodgers instant contenders, and gave Boston the financial flexibility to move forward and put together one of the best teams in baseball again.

The deal can be viewed as a win-win for both teams one year later, but for most of the players who left Boston and came to Los Angeles, there will always be a bitter taste in their mouths for the way things ended. Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett were vilified as overpaid crybabies and busts on their way out the door.

"It [ticked] me off so much, the things I had said about me," Crawford said before the series with the Red Sox. "I have the type of spirit that, if you say something to me, I'm going to say something back."

Crawford went 2-for-3 on Friday with one run and two stolen bases but didn't address reporters before or after the game. He did admit during an on-field television interview after the game that he'd be lying if he said the three-game series against Boston didn't mean more, while adding, "That was a great win; now we want to get the other two."

Gonzalez was slightly more reserved in his comments after the game about his former team.

"It's just another game," Gonzalez said. "We prepare the same way we did against everyone else. It's just like when I faced the Padres when I got traded from there. It's just another game."

Of course, it wasn't just another game, just as the blockbuster trade wasn't just another trade. This game meant something more, and it certainly felt like something more.

"Any time you see guys that get traded from one team to another, they always want to play well," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "That's just naturally there. There was a big trade. There's been a lot made of it. I think it's been good for both teams and I think it's a big game that they want to play well in."

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LOS ANGELES -- During the Los Angeles Dodgers' historic summer run, they haven't cared much about the opponent they have faced.

Whether it's in the division or out of the division, interleague or not, the Dodgers have simply steamrolled the competition, going 46-10 since June 22, racking up 12 more wins than any other team in the majors during that span.

Friday night's 2-0 win against the Boston Red Sox to give the Dodgers a 10 1/2-game lead atop the National League West seemed different.

That's because, about a year ago, the Dodgers pulled off a blockbuster trade that brought Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to the team. Every player coming to Los Angeles in that deal was painted as an overpriced mistake and reviled in Boston.

The trade was the best thing to happen to them both personally and professionally but doesn't take away the bad memories of their time in Boston.

The Dodgers might not say it publicly, but Friday's win (as well as all this weekend's games against Boston) was for Gonzalez, Crawford, Punto and Beckett, even though Beckett is currently sidelined.

Crawford went 2-for-3 against his former team, including a run and two stolen bases. Hanley Ramirez, a former Red Sox player himself, hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, which was all the scoring the Dodgers needed. Ricky Nolasco pitched eight innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts, and Kenley Jansen came in and successfully converted his 15th consecutive save opportunity.

"That was a great win," Crawford said in an on-field television interview after the game. "Now we want to get the other two."

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson says he will never part with his signature black beard and thinks that a reported $1 million offer from a razor blade company to shave it is bogus.

"I'm not concerned with shaving or growing or anything," Wilson said. "It's just attached to my face. It does what it wants. It's probably not an offer. It's probably bogus. I wouldn't worry about it. It's staying. I'm not going to sell my facial hair. I would never consider doing that regardless of the sum of money. I don't care about someone paying me to tell me how to look. I still have it because most people hate it, so you're welcome."

During his first meeting with the media at Dodger Stadium before Friday's game against the Boston Red Sox, Wilson said he was just focused on baseball and winning a World Series with the Dodgers.

"I told the organization I'm here to get outs," Wilson said. "If you want me to go on the mound and get outs, that's what I'll do."

Wilson refused to mention the San Francisco Giants by name, referring to his former team as "the other organization up north." Wilson, however, said he holds no ill will toward the Giants and isn't circling the Dodgers' three-game series in San Francisco next month on his calendar.

"I look forward to pitching against every single baseball team," Wilson said. "There's no anticipation of what might happen or extra motivation. I don't have that. My time with them is done. I play for the Dodgers. I work for the Dodgers, and I'm going to win with the Dodgers."

Wilson, 31, underwent Tommy John surgery last April after two early-season appearances with the Giants. He was non-tendered by the club last November after making $8.5 million in 2012 and signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Dodgers last month. There were many who thought Wilson's career was over with last season, but Wilson wasn't one of them.

"It wasn't over with, definitely not on my accord," Wilson said. "I'll throw without an arm. I'll find a way. What got me motivated was the fact that no one really thought I'd come back, and I knew exactly who they were and, yeah, I used that as motivation. I love doubt. That's what I feed off of. That's why I like getting booed."

Wilson won two World Series titles with the Giants over the past three seasons, and he says he thinks the Dodgers have what it takes to make a World Series run of their own this season.

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LOS ANGELES -- As Vin Scully walked into the interview room adjacent to the Los Angeles Dodgers' clubhouse Friday afternoon, he smiled as he looked at the standing-room crowd of media that had assembled to hear him speak.

Earlier in the day, the Dodgers announced Scully would be returning to the booth for an unprecedented 65th season in 2014. If it were up to Scully, that would be the extent of the announcement.

"The Dodgers were the ones who felt it was the right time," Scully said. "As far as I was concerned, as God is my judge, it could have been one line in the notes sheet tonight. I didn't want any big deal. I certainly didn't care for a press conference. I had nothing to say except for the fact that I'm lucky enough and hopefully healthy enough to come back next year."

The overwhelmingly humble Scully smiled as he answered questions for nearly 30 minutes from a dais normally reserved for players and managers.

"I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I have always felt that I am the most ordinary of men who was given an extraordinary break of doing what I love to do at a very early age," Scully said. "Thanks to God, I've been allowed to do it for all these years and I pray that I'll be allowed to do it for one more year. I don't take any of it for granted. I know this miracle in my life was given to me and I can lose it in 30 seconds. I can lose it between the time I leave here and go to the booth. I don't take it for granted in any way, shape or form."

There were many reasons why Scully decided to return, but he said some of the main reasons had little to do with the game -- it was more about the relationships he had formed over the years at Dodger Stadium. He singled out Marie Meza, who always greets Scully in the elevator up to the press box, and press box attendants Robert Allen and James Mims, who are the first faces he sees when he walks into the Vin Scully Press Box before every game.

"The thought of just suddenly walking away from all those friends and this great game and this very exciting team and this fandom that is so thrilled with what is going on, I said there's just no way," Scully said. "It wouldn't be just walking away from the game. It would be walking away from all the people in the ballpark. With all the high-tech equipment we have this is still a people business and I really truly look forward to seeing the people every single day."

Scully said the Dodgers' historic summer, which saw them recently win 42 of 50 games for the first time in team history, made his decision to return a little easier.

"It became so exciting again and so much fun," Scully said. "I don't really know how I would have felt if they stayed in last place, X number of games behind with 30-some-odd games left. I probably would have come back anyway because I love it so much, but it made it pretty easy. I get goose bumps. I'm the same as anyone in the stands still. That's always been the barometer for me as to where I am. If I truly get honestly excited and as long as I feel the emotion, I think I should be here. The day that something great happens and I have a ho-hum attitude to it, I should hang it up for sure."

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MIAMI -- Only Clayton Kershaw could come away from a game in which he shut out the Miami Marlins for eight innings, allowed just five hits and struck out six, and pronounce his performance "terrible."

Only Clayton Kershaw would say that because there’s really only one Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers' ace has been so consistently good this season, a couple of rough innings to start off a game qualify for a postgame self-critique.

Mind you, he still got out of said rough innings without giving up a run. But by Kershaw standards, we can apply the term “rough” to the first couple innings when the Marlins actually threatened to score and it took a couple of slick fielding plays from second baseman Skip Schumaker and shortstop Nick Punto to get out of the jams.

"It was terrible the first couple innings. I didn't have command, I couldn’t throw strikes," Kershaw said. "I didn’t necessarily find it. I didn’t have great stuff today. I was a little fortunate to get those double-play balls and I was able to throw enough strikes when I needed to.

"The game could’ve been out of hand pretty quickly in the first couple innings. It’s definitely something that I look at and try to improve on for the next start."

Remember, after reading that quote, that Kershaw is now 13-7 with a minuscule 1.72 ERA and leads the majors with 12 games of at least eight innings pitched.

Remember too, though, that his attention to detail, perfectionism and competitiveness are kind of how he’s gotten to where he is in just his fifth season in the big leagues.

Only Kershaw knows where his ceiling is. Heck, even he might not know. But wherever it is, he’s going to push himself relentlessly to get there.

Before Thursday’s game, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly used a term historically reserved for Albert Pujols to describe Kershaw’s approach and results.

"He’s a machine," Mattingly said. "What I enjoy with Clayton is that it’s every pitch, every batter, no matter what the score is, he attacks, he’s focused, he’s not wanting to make one bad pitch, not wanting to let any runners on. He just wants to execute, execute, execute. That’s tough to do over a long season."

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MIAMI -- It's a sign of the baseball times here in Miami -- and the early start to Thursday’s game didn't help -- that it took so much promotion to draw such a sparse crowd to the park to watch Clayton Kershaw’s latest gem.

But for $5 and whatever it costs to park nearby, you could see the National League’s leader in just about every pitching category do what he’s been doing all year. He shut out the Marlins over eight strong innings to lead the Dodgers to a breezy 6-0 win in the final game of this four-game series.

The Marlins managed just five hits off the Dodgers' ace as he pitched into the eighth inning for the 12th time this season and lowered his ERA to a major league-best 1.72. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four pitchers since 1980 have posted an ERA as low as Kershaw’s at least 25 starts into the season (Dwight Gooden, 1985; Greg Maddux, 1994, 1995, 1998; Roger Clemens, 1997, 2005; and Pedro Martinez, 1997, 2000).

“He kind of gets himself into routines and he’s just marching onward all the time. One start’s over and he’s on to the next one. That one’s over and it’s time to start the next process,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said of Kershaw.

“What I enjoy with Clayton is that it’s every pitch, every batter, no matter what the score is, he attacks, he’s focused, he’s not wanting to make one bad pitch, not wanting to let any runners on. He just wants to execute, execute, execute. That’s tough to do over a long season. He’s a machine.”

Kershaw also helped his cause at the plate, driving in the first run of the game in the fourth inning with a two-out, bases-loaded single to left to score Yasiel Puig, who doubled to lead off the inning. The next batter, Carl Crawford, drove in two runs to stake Kershaw to an early 3-0 lead. The Dodgers tacked on two more runs with two outs in the fifth on an RBI double by A.J. Ellis and an RBI single by Skip Schumaker.

Puig was back in the lineup Thursday and batting cleanup after experiencing dehydration and cramping in his legs Wednesday night. Mattingly said Puig received IV fluids after the game Wednesday.

Kershaw was so dominant, it finally gave Mattingly a comfortable spot to bring on former Giants closer Brian Wilson for his Dodgers debut with a six-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wilson struck out the first batter he faced, Giancarlo Stanton, got Logan Morrison to ground out to second base, gave up a double to pinch hitter Greg Dobbs, and struck out Justin Ruggiano to end the game.

The Dodgers return home to open a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox beginning Friday. L.A. has gone a major league-best 28-5 since the All-Star break and has won 22 of its past 25 road games.

MIAMI -- There were any number of directions that Andre Ethier could have gone after his benching May 22 for a game in Milwaukee. It seemed to make him the scapegoat for all that had gone wrong for the Los Angeles Dodgers during a miserable first two months of the season.

Not many of those directions seemed positive. Some thought he’d be traded for whatever the Dodgers could get for him at that point. Others worried his notoriously intense temper would explode. At the very least, he might sulk a little bit.

Instead, none of those things happened. He shut up, started putting up and all of a sudden has a nice season going again. Since that benching, Ethier is hitting .279 with five homers and 30 RBIs in 78 games.

He has been especially hot of late, hitting .305 with a .495 slugging percentage since July 22. In the first three games of this series against the Miami Marlins, Ethier is 4-for-10 with two RBIs, two runs and one excellent running catch in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 4-1 win that preserved Kenley Jansen’s 21st save of the season.

“Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you want,” Ethier said. “That was one where myself and the team weren’t performing up to the standards that were expected.

“Sometimes that gets pointed out, and it was one where you just take it, look at yourself in the mirror and figure out and get back on track.”

Wait, what?

Where’s that temper?

“There’s just so much potential for this team, I really told myself not to worry about any of the outside distractions,” Ethier said.

Three years ago, things might have been very different though, right?

“I’ll be the first one to say so,” Ethier said. “I probably would’ve pushed back.

“But I took a step back and realized what this team is capable of doing and where we were headed at the time,” he said. “It was time to get on board and figure out where to fit in.”

That has meant playing every outfield position, batting anywhere from second through ninth in the lineup, and learning to tune out trade rumors.

Those rumblings have died down now that Ethier has become the Dodgers’ most reliable center fielder while Matt Kemp is still on the shelf. And despite the looming logjam once Kemp returns, Ethier says he isn't concerned about his status on the club going forward.

“We have the pieces now. What’s the point of complaining about anything?” he said. “We’re heading in the right direction. I’m happy with that.”

The Dodgers look to take three of four games from the Marlins with Clayton Kershaw on the mound for Friday’s 9:40 a.m. PT start. Hanley Ramirez is getting the day off. Yasiel Puig is starting and batting cleanup after receiving an IV to treat dehydration following Wednesday's game.

The lineup:

Crawford LF
Punto SS
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Ethier CF
AJ Ellis C
Schumaker 2B
Uribe 3B
Kershaw P

MIAMI -- The Cincinnati Reds had to endure the one-two punch, as did the St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Next up, the Miami Marlins, the team that has scored the fewest runs in the National League (by a fairly healthy margin). Good luck, Miami. They get to experience the joys of dealing with Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw in back-to-back games.

Of all the dazzling positives the Dodgers have shown during this stretch of .811 baseball that has now lasted exactly two months, the one that figures to have the most direct impact on their October hopes is the quite distinct, quite competent pairing at the top of their rotation.

Greinke toys with an opposing lineup and then Kershaw simply attacks it. The Dodgers and Cardinals are the only teams in the National League with two starting pitchers who have sub-3.00 ERAs. The Dodgers are the only team in baseball with three.

Greinke (12-3) lowered his ERA to 2.91 with eight dominant innings in the Dodgers' 4-1 win at Marlins Park on Wednesday night. Kershaw gets the Thursday afternoon game. What makes the Marlins' task even harder is that they have to try to get their bats going with different people swinging them.

The combination of a power right-hander like Greinke and a power left-hander like Kershaw forces opposing managers to shuffle their lineups to try to get better -- or, perhaps, the term is "less-unfavorable" -- matchups.

When Greinke stood at a podium at Dodger Stadium last Dec. 11 for his introductory news conference, this is the kind of synergy everyone envisioned.

"Kershaw is on such another level that, if you try to do better than him, you get your feelings hurt pretty much," Greinke said. "I just try to be consistent, make good pitches. I've had some breaks really."

When someone suggested Greinke has been on a better run lately than in his 2009 Cy Young season, he said, "I think that's bad information." By the same token, to attribute his pitching to "breaks" is probably overly humble. In his last three starts, he has given up one run. In those starts, hitters are batting .190 against him.

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