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LOS ANGELES – Should the Dodgers have pushed harder for homefield advantage last week?

Going into their Tuesday game at AT&T Park, they trailed the Atlanta Braves by two games and the St. Louis Cardinals by one. The Dodgers went 2-4 from that point. They weren’t going to catch the Cardinals, who won all five of their remaining games. And they weren’t going to catch Atlanta, which went 3-2, but held the tiebreaker over the Dodgers.

So, the answer to that question is a fairly definitive, “no,” unless you think that by half-stepping in the final two series, the Dodgers lost their edge heading into the playoffs. That could well be true, but it didn't feel that way. We'll find out if the Dodgers can flip the switch again Thursday.

Overall, it was a pretty bad week and a continuation of the Dodgers’ lackluster September, but you could also argue, who cares?

SCORING

Here’s where the worriers might have some justification. The Dodgers’ lineup didn’t look dangerous last week, scoring an average of 3.5 runs per game and batting .222. Yasiel Puig (.167, five strikeouts in six games) struggled badly. One of the few Dodgers swinging a hot bat in San Francisco, Matt Kemp, was shut down for the entire postseason with an inflamed ankle.

And it won’t get any easier Thursday, when the Dodgers face Braves right-hander Kris Medlen, who is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA against the Dodgers.

Of course, the counterargument to the worriers is that manager Don Mattingly continued to give his frontline players revolving days off. Beginning Thursday, barring a setback, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Puig will all be in the lineup for every game.

While the loss of Kemp and, probably, Andre Ethier, will sap the lineup of some depth, the Dodgers have the names and resumes to do damage once again. If they can only find the spark they’ve been missing.

Grade: D+

DEFENSE

Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke finished up their regular seasons exactly as you would want them to, by dominating. Kershaw put a ribbon on his Cy Young-bound season Friday and Greinke pitched nearly as well the following day while, somehow, picking up the loss.

Hyun-Jin Ryu had another one of those starts where he gives up a bunch of hits, but generally pitches out of trouble. Ricky Nolasco’s slump is something of a concern, but if the Dodgers’ top three starters pitch to form, maybe they won’t have to worry about a Game 4, who knows?

It was that kind of week for Dodgers pitching, which lost four games while pitching to a 1.92 ERA.

Most of the key relievers seem to be sharp heading into the playoffs, Kenley Jansen has been unhittable, Brian Wilson continues to go strong and J.P. Howell has pitched well. Paco Rodriguez has been struggling, but Mattingly said he feels fine about his young lefty heading into the playoffs.

Grade: A-

DECISION-MAKING

Mattingly needs to keep his day job, because he would make a terrible psychic. All season, he has been asked to assess the severity of Dodgers injuries and, all season long, he has started out being as optimistic and conservative in his estimates as he can be.

Pretty much every time, the injury proved to be more serious than first hoped.
Last weekend, Mattingly thought Ethier was healthy enough to pinch hit, so he gave him an at-bat in San Diego. Ethier hasn’t been seen since. Going into Sunday’s game, Mattingly thought Kemp would be ready to go by Thursday. Four hours later, the Dodgers team doctor shut down Kemp for the remainder of 2013.

So, we have to assume that some of the aches and pains the Dodgers hitters have been dealing with are a bit more severe than the team has indicated. In that case, Mattingly was perfectly justified in fielding some watered-down lineups after the Dodgers clinched.

Grade: B

CHEMISTRY TEST

Kershaw is a good example of how players’ attitudes can affect the team’s performance. The Dodgers have provided Kershaw with awful run support all season, which means that his charmed season -- becoming just the second L.A. Dodger to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA -- only netted him 16 wins.

Now, whenever anyone glances casually at Kershaw’s baseball card, they’ll skim right over 2013 rather than recognize his brilliance this season.

All season, Kershaw has held his tongue when he was given an opportunity to criticize Dodgers hitters. Many a pitcher has admitted to frustration under similar circumstances.

People tend to focus on the big personalities -- players like Puig, Brian Wilson and Juan Uribe -- when talking about team chemistry, but a player such as Kershaw or Mark Ellis can contribute just as much by staying quiet sometimes.

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

The Dodgers are in the playoffs and they don’t have to bother with a wild-card game.
That’s about as good as you can hope for right about now.

Grade: A

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.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers will take it down to the wire before deciding whether outfielder Andre Ethier will be healthy enough to make their first-round playoff roster.

Ethier will work out Tuesday morning at Dodger Stadium, where he will be evaluated for whether he’s sound enough to play in the National League Division Series. He has been dealing with soreness in his left shin for more than two weeks and has had just one at-bat since Sept. 13, a pinch-hitting appearance in which he struck out.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he is open to the possibility of carrying Ethier strictly as a pinch hitter, but not if he can’t run the bases.

“I would rather lean toward letting him play, but I could lean either way and it doesn’t really matter,” Mattingly said. “We have to see what he can do.”

Matt Kemp also missed his second straight game with ankle soreness, but Mattingly said he is confident Kemp will be able to play Thursday.

* Reliever Paco Rodriguez traveled to Arizona for the birth of his first child, but will be back in plenty of time for the Dodgers’ Tuesday charter flight to whichever city they begin the playoffs.

* Two pitchers who figure to get work Sunday: Chris Capuano and Kenley Jansen. The Dodgers are contemplating keeping Capuano on the roster as a third left-handed reliever. Jansen hasn’t pitched since Tuesday.

Here are lineups for Sunday’s season finale, also the last career game for Todd Helton, who has announced his retirement:

Rockies

1. Charlie Blackmon CF
2. Josh Rutledge 2B
3. Todd Helton 1B
4. Troy Tulowitzki SS
5. Michael Cuddyer RF
6. Nolan Arenado 3B
7. Charlie Culberson LF
8. Jordan Pacheco C
9. Jeff Francis LHP

Dodgers

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

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Dodgers first-base coach Davey Lopes was taking part in a word association game with a film crew prior to Saturday’s game against the visiting Colorado Rockies when Yasiel Puig’s name came up.

Without hesitation, Lopes answered, “Unpredictable.”

Puig has been with the Dodgers for nearly four months. In that time, they’ve climbed from as far back as 9 ½ games in the NL West standings to division champions. They won 53 of 66 games during their summer surge, including a franchise-record 15 consecutive road games.

Puig has his fingerprints all over one of the great turnarounds in franchise history, hitting .322 since his arrival with 19 home runs among his 42 extra-base hits.

Still, from listening to Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and his coaching staff, it's clear Puig still has a lot to learn.

“We see a guy with just a load of talent, but also you see the young player in him at times,” Mattingly said.

During the Dodgers’ previous homestand, Mattingly spoke of Puig’s lack of control in the outfield. His tendency to overthrow the cutoff man has been well documented, but on this night Mattingly was discussing Puig’s unbridled aggression when chasing down fly balls, saying his teammates don’t trust that he won’t run them over in pursuit.

His baserunning has been just as just as erratic. He’s stolen 11 bases but has been caught eight times. Even more disturbing, he has been picked off, doubled up and run through stop signs to record a number of other outs on the basepaths.

Puig also seems reluctant to take the advice of others. Against the Rockies on Friday night, he fouled a ball of his lower left leg in his first at-bat and hobbled around before eventually grounding out. Mattingly said he brushed off a recommendation to wear a shin guard and later fouled another pitch off the same area in the fifth inning, ultimately causing him to leave the game.

"I would think he would want to wear one, but ...," Mattingly said before just shrugging his shoulders.

Puig took batting practice Saturday and Mattingly said he would be available to play if needed, but is holding him out for precautionary reasons.

A more difficult decision looms Thursday. Who will be the starting outfielders when the Dodgers open the NL Division Series, either at the St. Louis Cardinals or Atlanta Braves? Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford appear healthy and ready, and another veteran outfielder, Andre Ethier, is wrapping up his rehab from an injured lower left leg at the team’s spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.

With the Dodgers' playoff positioning set, Mattingly was asked if he planned to let the players manage the team in the final two games. Mattingly said he hadn’t thought about that possibility, but then asked reporters who they considered good candidates.

When it was suggested Puig could coach third base, Mattingly answered, “It would probably do him some good.”

Saturday's lineups:
Rockies
1. Charlie Blackmon RF
2. Charlie Culberson LF
3. Corey Dickerson CF
4. Troy Tulowitzki SS
5. Todd Helton 1B
6. Nolan Arenado 3B
7. Jordan Pacheco C
8. Jonathan Herrera 2B
9. Juan Nicasio P

Dodgers
1. Skip Schumaker RF
2. A.J. Ellis C
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Michael Young 2B
8. Scott Van Slyke LF
9. Zack Greinke P

LOS ANGELES -- With the start of the postseason less than a week away, getting all the Los Angeles Dodgers in a row continues to be management's primary focus.

Most of the Dodgers lined up for the team picture Friday at Dodger Stadium and then prepped for their series opener against the visiting Colorado Rockies, but injured outfielder Andre Ethier was at the team’s spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.

Ethier, who’s been sidelined the last two weeks with shin splits near his left ankle, took 15 at-bats during a simulated game earlier in the day, manager Don Mattingly said. The Dodgers sent Ethier to Camelback Ranch to keep his timing sharp at the plate, though he continues to be limited to straight-ahead running.

“That’s the main reason for going there, to get 10 to 15 [at-bats] a day,” Mattingly said.

It’s the same regimen the Dodgers used for Matt Kemp as he worked his way back from ankle and hamstring injuries earlier this month. Kemp is hitting .355 since his Sept 16 return.

The other player who’s being monitored closely is shortstop Hanley Ramirez. He’s in the starting lineup for Friday’s opener against the Rockies, but likely won’t play in Saturday’s game and Sunday’s status is still to be determined, Mattingly said.

Ramirez has battled hamstring injuries this season and, more recently, an irritated nerve in his back that has caused hamstring tightness. The goal is to have Ramirez as fresh as possible for Thursday’s playoff opener against either the Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals, likely to be played on the road.

“He’s not going to want to come out once we get there,” Mattingly said. “He’ll accept all of this, knowing that gives him the best chance of playing every day [in the opening round].”

Left-hander pitcher Chris Capuano is also available to pitch out of the bullpen, Mattingly said. Capuano is coming off a strained groin muscle and hasn’t pitched since Sept 6. He made 20 starts for the Dodgers this season, but his best chance of making the postseason roster is as a reliever.

Capuano, a nine-year veteran, has never pitched in the postseason.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Every afternoon, Dodgers left-hander Paco Rodriguez spends part of it lounging on clubhouse furniture with what looks like a massive ice pack wrapped around his left arm. The device is connected to a small computer.

According to the manufacturer, it provides "dynamic compression to limbs compromised by poor circulation." Other Dodgers players have used the the same device to help increase blood flow in various parts of their body.

Rodriguez, one of the key Dodgers relievers, hasn't pitched since the day before the Dodgers clinched the NL West, a span of eight days without entering a game. But he says he feels perfectly sound.

"It's just a matter of getting an opportunity," Rodriguez said.

The Dodgers, mindful of his heavy workload and the fact he is finishing his second full season in professional baseball, have tried to limit his use. He was told he was off limits for the Dodgers' Sept. 8 and 9 games. Since then, his role simply hasn't come up much.

Rodriguez has warmed up in the bullpen without getting into a game.

"We really do feel like we need to get him into a game," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "But we don't want to just put him in a game. We want to make sure it's the right situation."

* Mattingly said it's unlikely Andre Ethier, who has an injured left ankle, will play in a game before the end of the regular season Sunday, but that the team will try to set up a simulated game to get him at-bats and that it's possible Ethier could still make the first-round playoff roster.

Here are lineups for Thursday's game:

Dodgers

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Mark Ellis 2B
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Edinson Volquez RHP

Giants

1. Angel Pagan CF
2. Gregor Blanco LF
3. Brandon Belt 1B
4. Buster Posey C
5. Hunter Pence RF
6. Tony Abreu 2B
7. Brandon Crawford SS
8. Nick Noonan 3B
9. Tim Lincecum RHP

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Dodgers had two injured veterans test injuries before Tuesday's game in San Francisco.

One, Andre Ethier, experienced pain in his injured left ankle and had to cut his workout short. The other, left-hander Chris Capuano, felt great after a 41-pitch bullpen session and could be pitching in games as early as this weekend.

If he is, Capuano, who is coming off a strained groin muscle, has an outside shot at making the Dodgers' playoff roster as a reliever. Capuano, a nine-year veteran, has never pitched in the postseason, so he's working hard to try to make it happen.

If he's not on the roster for the division series, Capuano, who lives in Arizona, said he would continue to work out at the Dodgers' Camelback Ranch facility in case he's called on for the National League Championship Series.

"You stay ready," Capuano said.

Here are lineups for Tuesday's game:

Dodgers

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. A.J. Ellis C
8. Mark Ellis 2B
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu LHP

Giants

1. Angel Pagan CF
2. Juan Perez LF
3. Brandon Belt 1B
4. Buster Posey C
5. Hunter Pence RF
6. Pablo Sandoval 3B
7. Tony Abreu 2B
8. Ehire Adrianza SS
9. Matt Cain RHP

SAN DIEGO -- Before the Los Angeles Dodgers took the field Saturday night to face the San Diego Padres, manager Don Mattingly gathered his players in the clubhouse for an impromptu meeting.

He didn't have a particularly long or motivational speech prepared. He simply outlined where the Dodgers are and what they have to do during the final games of the regular season before the playoffs start.

"They all know where we're at," Mattingly said. "It's about where we're going, not about where we've been."

Where the Dodgers are going will actually have a lot to do with how they play over the final week of the regular season. Despite clinching the NL West and their first playoff berth since 2009 on Thursday, the Dodgers still have no idea who they will play when the playoffs start and, more important, where they will be to open the postseason.

After Saturday's 4-0 win over the Padres, the Dodgers are tied in the overall NL standings with the Pittsburgh Pirates, one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals and 2½ games back of the Atlanta Braves.

It would be natural to assume the Dodgers are still eyeing to claim the best record in the National League and home-field advantage in the playoffs, but the truth is they are more concerned about going into the playoffs healthy and rested.

"We feel like we can win anywhere," Mattingly said. "We feel like we can win on the road, but you want to be healthy. I would also like to be at home. I would much rather have home-field advantage but do I want home-field advantage and not have Hanley [Ramirez] or Adrian [Gonzalez] in the lineup? No. The priority is I'm going to try to get these guys as healthy as I can and keep them sharp."

The Dodgers have certainly been a strong road team this season. They have the best road record in the National League and the second-best road record overall. They won a franchise-record 15 consecutive road games this summer and celebrated clinching the division on the road by celebrating in the Arizona Diamondbacks' pool.

So Mattingly is more than comfortable taking his team on the road to open the postseason as long as his team is healthy.

"We're going to play, we're going to keep playing," Mattingly said. "But not at the risk of [playing someone hurt]. When medical says Hanley is a little tight, I'm not going to use him. We're going to be more safe than sorry later."

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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

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 used the word "careful" four times in less than two minutes discussing his team's strangely tenuous position right now, poised for a playoff berth but petrified that one of its leading hitters will go down yet again.

Mattingly is like a playground monitor these days, keeping an alert eye for peril.

He said he gets nervous every time Hanley Ramirez or Matt Kemp runs, as do thousands of people watching from the stands and at home. Soon, he can add the joy of fretting every time Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford take off, too. Mattingly pulled Ramirez and Kemp late in Tuesday's 9-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks to avoid some further catastrophe.

All it takes is one bad step, one slight stumble and this team's World Series hopes could be left dangling by a thread.

That's where things stand as the Dodgers try to close this thing out. Should they win one of the next two games, they are the champions of the National League West. And at that point, they might as well give Kemp, Ramirez, Crawford and Ethier -- heck, maybe even Adrian Gonzalez, too -- an extra week of vacation.

The Dodgers just went a laborious 3-9 trying to finish things when those guys were largely out of the lineup, so it looks as though they need them to get there. They certainly looked a bit more spry Tuesday night when they got two key hitters back.

The Dodgers already knew what Ramirez could do. He has been doing it all year, so when he singled the first time he had a competitive at-bat in almost a week, nobody was too surprised. When he got on base three more times, it was fairly par for the course.

But seeing Kemp make his first start in nearly two months and go 4-for-4 with a couple of hard-hit doubles was something of a revelation for many of the Dodgers. If he's back to doing what he once did and Ramirez and Yasiel Puig keep doing what they've been doing, what could this team become?

"I've never seen [Kemp] swing the bat like he is right now," pitcher Zack Greinke said. "I haven't played with him last year, haven't played with him before, only faced him a couple times. People talk about how good a hitter he is, but I haven't had the opportunity with him being injured. That was pretty exciting."

It's pretty obvious that neither Kemp nor Ramirez is running as well as they normally might, but Ramirez picked it up when Michael Young was running up his back while tripling in the eighth inning. And Kemp said he can still turn it on if he has to.

"Yeah, definitely," he said.

Wednesday brings a whole new round of excitement. It starts the minute Mattingly spends his 15 minutes with the team's trainer and then ambles out to post his lineup card.

It could end in a fog of champagne. That tends to be good for aches and pains.

PHOENIX – Somewhere in Southern California, a delivery truck driver just turned over the engine.

Among the items the driver will be carrying through the desert are cases and cases of booze paid for by the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's not the cheap stuff this year, though 80 percent of it will end up drenching jerseys or seeping into the carpet. They'll be pouring Korbel, a California bubbly that retails for about $11 a bottle.

And the Dodgers might be enjoying it as early as Wednesday evening. That's how close they are to clinching their first postseason berth in four years.

They shook off a four-game losing streak to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-3 Tuesday night at Chase Field, reducing their magic number to win the NL West to just two. They play two more games before leaving the desert for San Diego and, if they win one, their last nine or 10 games will border on meaningless. In a good way.

No wonder they finally looked like the Dodgers of July and August, not the Dodgers of May. They had their players back.

Hanley Ramirez started his first game in five days, the irritated nerve in his back apparently sufficiently healed. Matt Kemp started his first game in nearly two months, his ankle and hamstring apparently sufficiently healed.

The Dodgers, punchless for the past two weeks, hit four extra-base hits off Arizona's best starting pitcher, Patrick Corbin. Kemp mashed a pair of doubles, one of them soaring off the center-field wall, and didn't have to run too hard on his leg because neither play was close. He was 4-for-4, suggesting he just might be able to contribute to this charmed Dodgers season after all the pain and therapy his season has consisted of.

Ramirez singled in his first live swing in nearly a week. He also walked three times. If his back and his hamstring hold, he and the other Dodgers hitters could be a lot for a pitcher to contend with once the playoffs begin.

Zack Greinke (15-4) easily pitched well enough to protect the big early lead he got. Greinke hasn't given up more than two runs in a start since July 25.

It all kind of left the impression that the Dodgers' inability to sew up the West in a timely matter was more a talent issue, created by injuries, than a pressure issue.

If they really are back for good -- and Andre Ethier could add to the mix in the next couple of days -- it shouldn't be long before they pop those corks. They might as well. It's all paid for.

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 -- Maybe it was because he had watched the other team score 19 runs the night before, then had to be back in his office early in the morning for the day game, but Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly seemed uncharacteristically impatient answering questions Sunday.

He didn’t want to speculate on how long Yasiel Puig would be out.

He didn’t have an answer for why Paco Rodriguez has finally hit a rough patch in his strong rookie season.

He had no interest in discussing the Dodgers’ postseason plans, which suddenly doesn’t seem like such a pressing topic anyway.

So, if you’re wondering whether this latest batch of injuries is a major concern or more of a passing headache going into October, and you took your cue from the manager, you’d probably lean toward the former. If you went by the scoreboard, you’d probably lean toward the former, too.

The Dodgers have lost eight of their past 11 games as they stumble toward the finish line of clinching the NL West, depleted more and more by the day.

“This time of year, it’s tough to win games,” Mattingly said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants Sunday. “It’s like anything else, we had a bunch of guys out early in the year and we had trouble winning games.”

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LOS ANGELES -- Don Mattingly got the daily medical report and then went to fill out his lineup card knowing that four of his top six hitters, by OPS, were not available to play Sunday.

“Today’s one of those days, it doesn’t seem like anybody is available,” Mattingly said.

The latest to join the list of the injured -- Yasiel Puig -- was out with soreness in his left hip. The Dodgers’ other dangerous right-handed hitter, Hanley Ramirez, is out at least a few more games with nerve irritation in his back and outfielders Carl Crawford (back) and Andre Ethier (ankle) also were unavailable.

On the other hand, Mattingly and the Dodgers still have more than two weeks to get everyone healthy and playing together for a playoff push. In fact, Matt Kemp (ankle) could return from the disabled list Monday or Tuesday in Arizona.

“I’m pretty confident these guys are getting healthy and we’ll get everyone back in there,” Mattingly said.

So, in other words, better now than two weeks from now.

Here are the lineups for Sunday’s game, with the Dodgers hoping to reduce their magic number of four and set up a possible clinching game Monday in Arizona:

San Francisco

1. Gregor Blanco CF
2. Marco Scutaro 2B
3. Brandon Belt 1B
4. Hunter Pence RF
5. Pablo Sandoval 3B
6. Hector Sanchez C
7. Brandon Crawford SS
8. Juan Perez LF
9. Ryan Vogelsong RHP

Dodgers

1. Dee Gordon SS
2. Mark Ellis 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Juan Uribe 3B
5. Skip Schumaker CF
6. Jerry Hairston Jr. LF
7. A.J. Ellis C
8. Nick Buss RF
9. Edinson Volquez RHP