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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 -- When Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for his next start Thursday in the opening round of the NL Division Series, he’ll have that same youthful-looking appearance.

He’ll just be a completely different-looking pitcher.

Kershaw has evolved into one of the top hurlers in baseball, proving so once again Friday night while throwing six shutout innings in an 11-0 victory against the visiting Colorado Rockies.

Kershaw improved to 16-9, but the stat that’ll likely stand out for years to come is his ERA. He dropped that mark to 1.83, the lowest in the major leagues since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2000, and the lowest by a southpaw since Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees in 1978 (1.74).

Kershaw also became the first pitcher since Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves (1993-95) to lead the majors in ERA for three consecutive seasons and just the second member of the Dodgers to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA. Sandy Koufax accomplished that feat three times in the 1960s.

The Dodgers made things easy on Kershaw by scoring four runs in the first, another in the third and three more in the fourth on Carl Crawford’s three-run blast. Kershaw had a hand in that, too, singling with one out before Crawford launched his sixth home run of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Ellis also homered for the Dodgers, and Juan Uribe had three hits and two RBIs.

Kershaw showed he was on his game right from the start, striking out Charlie Blackmon on three pitches to open the game. He twice struck out soon-to-be-retired first baseman Todd Helton. Kershaw allowed four hits among his 82 pitches, struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Of course, the Dodgers can’t seem to take two steps forward without taking one back this season. Yasiel Puig left the game in the top of the sixth after fouling a pitch off his left foot for the second time in the game. He returned to the batter’s box and hit the next pitch in the air to right field, limping noticeably as he jogged to first.

The injury brought back memories of the last weekend series at Dodger Stadium, when the hosts lost Puig, fellow outfielders Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford and shortstop Hanley Ramirez to injuries. Ethier remains sidelined with a lower left leg injury.

The other downside Friday night was the St. Louis Cardinals' beating the Chicago Cubs, assuring the Dodgers of a road game Thursday when they open the playoffs against either the Cardinals or Atlanta Braves.

But on this night, once again, it was all about Kershaw.

“He’s still the same kid who was tough and worked hard and was hard-headed, in a sense, with his stuff, but he’s come so far from the standpoint of his willingness to get better,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who played five seasons with Guidry in New York.

Kershaw didn’t hold runners on base very well when he first joined the Dodgers. Now he does. He had only two pitches in his arsenal, a fastball and a curve, but has since added a slider and changeup. He dominated just one side of the plate. Now he owns both corners. He’s even become a better hitter.

“He has just evolved,” Mattingly said. “He’s a total different matchup for you as a hitter than he used to be. This is obviously the same guy, the same person, but you probably wouldn’t recognize him if you looked at the games he pitched then versus now.”

Kershaw was a wide-eyed 20-year-old when he made his first postseason appearance five years ago, pitching two innings of relief in a five-game loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series. He returned to the postseason the following year and made three starts before the Dodgers were again cut down in the NLCS.

Four years later, Kershaw gets another shot at winning a World Series. Just getting to the playoffs is no longer good enough.

“Nobody remembers second place,” Kershaw said. “Nobody remembers who won the American League or who won the National League, they remember who won the World Series. So getting to the playoffs is nice, it’s definitely a huge accomplishment, but at the end of the day, unless you win the whole thing, no one remembers.”

SAN FRANCISCO -- The offense has stalled. They have frittered away a chance at home-field advantage. Their momentum heading into the playoff is virtually exhausted.

All of which means what, exactly, when the bright lights come on somewhere other than at Dodger Stadium next Thursday, when the Dodgers begin the postseason on national TV? Depends on whom you ask. To manager Don Mattingly, it's all meaningless -- though he used a stronger word for it.

"You know, I'd like to see all kinds of things. I'd love to see us go out and get 10 runs a night and throw shutouts and everybody get their outs, but I'm going to be honest with you, I don't think any of it's going to matter one bit," Mattingly said. "What's going to matter is the game next Thursday."

If Mattingly's words don’t convince you, perhaps his lineups will. Yet Thursday was one of those evenings when Mattingly started nearly all of his frontline guys, with catcher A.J. Ellis the only healthy regular who wasn't in the starting lineup.

And still, they allowed Tim Lincecum to turn back the clock a couple of years in what may have been his final start as a Giant in a 3-2 Dodgers loss.

The Dodgers were eliminated from the race for best record in the National League. And, unless the St. Louis Cardinals implode this weekend at home against the last-place Chicago Cubs and the Dodgers sweep the Colorado Rockies, the Dodgers will begin the playoffs on the road.

The bigger worry is that the Dodgers can't generate any momentum going into October. Lately, they seem to be gazing ahead at the playoffs rather than focusing on these final regular-season games. They're 6-9 since Sept. 10.

Angel Pagan hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off reliever Paco Rodriguez, who hadn't pitched in more than a week. One of the Dodgers' best relievers has been struggling for a solid month.

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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 -- Adrian Gonzalez is a hitter's hitter, a technician with a bat.

A surprising number of major-league hitters will describe their approach in the simplest terms: "See the ball, hit the ball." If Gonzalez were to take that approach, he says, he would be "the worst hitter in the world."

Gonzalez spends more time studying video of opposing pitchers than any Los Angeles Dodgers hitter with the possible exception of Andre Ethier. He's not just looking for clues to picking up the ball out of the pitcher's hand, but trying to glean a pattern that can give him an advantage in that night's at-bats. It's more detailed than you might think.

He's looking for what a pitcher does when he's ahead in the count, what he does to try to put hitters away, what pitches he tends to leave over the plate -- the hittable kind -- and whether he tends to pitch in or away, up or down, soft or hard. The permutations are practically endless.

When he's not studying hitting, he's often talking hitting.

"He'll use terms that leave you scratching your head," Carl Crawford said.

It's a cerebral approach that wouldn't work for many hitters. It would cloud their heads with too many thoughts. It clearly works for Gonzalez, who leads the Dodgers in home runs, RBIs and runs and is third with an .804 OPS. While Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez have been the straws that stir the drink, Gonzalez has been the ice that never melts.

Crawford marvels at Gonzalez's gap-to-gap approach, how he rarely gets out ahead of the ball, letting it travel deep in the strike zone before swinging.

"Signs of a professional hitter," Crawford said.

If you watch closely, you can see Gonzalez adjust to situations as they arise, altering his approach. His swing is different when there are runners in scoring position versus empty bases, with two strikes or with fewer than two strikes, with the score tied or in a blowout. That adaptability leads to consistency. He is two RBIs away from reaching 100 for the sixth time in the past seven years. The time he didn't get to 100, he finished with 99.

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PHOENIX – Don Mattingly’s lineup Thursday had a “get-it-over-with-already,” vibe.

Matt Kemp, who just came off the disabled list four days ago, was starting his third straight game. Hanley Ramirez was playing again, even though Mattingly indicated he likely would get the day game off as the Dodgers try to nurse him through an irritated nerve in his back.

Adrian Gonzalez was out of the lineup, but that’s only because he has a mildly strained quadriceps, and Carl Crawford was sitting, but that was performance-based. He’s batting .208 against left-handed pitchers this season and Arizona is starting lefty Wade Miley.

All in all, the Dodgers would love to get a win Thursday and clinch the National League West. Otherwise, they have to win two games in San Diego this weekend or have Arizona cooperate by losing before they can relax and start setting their team up for a playoff run.

Far tidier to take care of things Thursday.

“The toughest thing is, right now, nothing’s really done,” Mattingly said. “So, even though it looks really good, you’re not really where you want to be yet.”

Here are the rest of the lineups:

Los Angeles

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Jerry Hairston Jr. 1B
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Matt Kemp CF
5. Mark Ellis 2B
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Scott Van Slyke LF
8. A.J. Ellis C
9. Ricky Nolasco RHP

Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton LF
2. A.J. Pollock CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Martin Prado 3B
5. Aaron Hill 2B
6. Miguel Montero C
7. Didi Gregorius SS
8. Gerardo Parra RF
9. Wade Miley LHP

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 -- If you are a Los Angeles Dodgers fan and you are starting to get frustrated with your team being stuck in this thick, goopy mud so close to the tape in the National League West race, realize that you are, in fact, alone.

Well, maybe you’re not alone among your fellow fans. But those feelings quite evidently aren’t shared by the Dodgers, even after their 2-1 loss Monday to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field kept their magic number stuck at four for the fourth straight day.

“I don’t think anybody here doubts that we’re going to do it,” Mark Ellis said.

Of course not. For the Dodgers to blow a 9½-game lead with 12 games left would prompt books to be written, followed closely by screenplays.

The only issue worth worrying about much is whether the assortment of injuries to the team’s key hitters will throw off the team’s swagger and rhythm going into the playoffs. Even that hardly seems like something to panic about, considering none of the injuries to Hanley Ramirez, Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford figures to linger more than about another week. Matt Kemp’s health, because it has been so tenuous all season, is another matter.

“I think we’re just getting close to the goal line here, and games are tough to win,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Then, all of a sudden, we look at a lineup that doesn’t have Hanley in it, doesn’t have Andre Ethier in it. … Guys are not in their spots.”

If the Dodgers had more healthy bodies, Nick Buss would not have had the pivotal at-bat Monday night.

If they had healthier bodies, A.J. Ellis probably wouldn’t have been hitting fifth and wouldn’t have been in position to strike out with the bases loaded and stunt the Dodgers’ biggest threat.

If they had healthier bodies, Mattingly wouldn’t have asked Juan Uribe to lay down a bunt in the ninth inning, because -- frankly -- it likely never would have come to that.

Arizona’s closer, Brad Ziegler, throws with a sidearm motion that creates nasty angles for right-handed hitters. For Ziegler’s career, righties are hitting .216 and lefties are hitting .300. It would have been the perfect inning to tap Crawford or Ethier to pinch hit. Neither player was available.

See what Mattingly means about guys not being in their spots?

There is still a massive upside here. The pitching, typically, is great. Hyun-Jin Ryu might have had his finest outing as a Dodger in the complete-game loss. After the first inning, he allowed just one baserunner. He left one pitch up to the most dangerous hitter in the league, Paul Goldschmidt, and it cost the Dodgers the game.

“I threw 100 pitches today, but that one pitch seems to be the decision-maker,” Ryu said through his interpreter. “That was an error on my part.”

And, even with all this teeth-gnashing going on among Dodgers fans during this 3-9 stretch, their team still has an excellent chance of being the first in baseball to clinch. If the Dodgers win two of their next three games here, they’re in, and who’s going to care about the previous two weeks?

They earned the luxury of playing lousy games for a couple of weeks.

“I’ve never been on a team with anywhere close to this big a lead,” Ellis said. “You’d rather do it sooner than later, but the main thing is you’ve got to keep your edge somehow. You want to play good baseball.”

So, yeah, this does have to change pretty soon or October isn't going to be nearly as raucous around Dodger Stadium as fans were envisioning back in August. Presumably, it will pick up when the name-brand players grab their gloves and bats and finally leave the dugout.

If they’re not getting it done by then, you won’t be the only person wondering what happened.

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

PHOENIX -- Had things gone differently, the Dodgers could have been spraying champagne and other eye-stinging liquids on their fans on Sunday afternoon. What a perfect moment to cap a magical season that would have been.

It seemed headed in that direction when the Dodgers won the first two games against the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks to start the homestand. Then things got a little squirrelly.

They couldn’t handle Patrick Corbin in the finale of that series, Arizona bought a little time and the Dodgers suddenly needed six of seven events to go their way in order to clinch Sunday.

It wasn’t even close. The Dodgers lost four of five games, Hunter Pence proudly delaying their clinching party with a monster five-home run weekend at Dodger Stadium.

But the real issue is injuries, exactly what made the first three months of this Dodgers series a blur of disappointment. First, Hanley Ramirez started feeling tightness in his hamstring and, after doctors took a look, they discovered a nerve is irritating his back. Then came Andre Ethier, limping off on a sprained ankle. Carl Crawford felt tightness in his back. Yasiel Puig has been dealing with some hip soreness.

In other words, the Dodgers will be trying to clinch with a rag-tag crew, most likely, this week.

SCORING

Juan Uribe had a nice week on Monday.

He hit three home runs that day, four for the week and he nearly hit one out Sunday, but the ball clanged off the top of the wall (and had to be reviewed by the umpires), resulting in a triple.

Overall, Uribe batted .348 with a 1.332 OPS.

But an interesting thing happened in Sunday’s game, one that could hint at other managers’ strategy for playoff games. The San Francisco Giants intentionally walked Adrian Gonzalez to get to Uribe with first base open. Uribe struck out against Santiago Casilla. At this age -- and with how hard he swings -- Uribe often struggles against pitchers who throw 94 mph and up. That could mean Michael Young has a role on the post-season roster given his short swing and success against good fastball pitchers.

Hanley Ramirez was hot again before he had to take himself out of a game with a strained hamstring that later was determined to being caused by irritation in a nerve in his back. Adrian Gonzalez continues to be one of baseball’s great clutch hitters. He had eight RBIs, putting him at the precipice of 100 yet again.
And, still, it was a mediocre week for the hitters, who scored an average of 3.57 runs per game.

Grade: C

DEFENSE

There was some chatter in the past two weeks that the Dodgers’ hottest pitcher, Ricky Nolasco, should be considered as the No. 2 starter behind Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs. Nonsense.

Even before Nolasco got knocked around by the Giants Saturday, this plan made no sense. For one thing, would you make the call based on Nolasco’s good two months or on Greinke’s outstanding career, including a Cy Young award, and the fact you agreed to pay him $147 million to be exactly that -- the No. 2 starter behind Kershaw.

You could make a case that Nolasco should move ahead of Hyun-Jin Ryu, but that determination will be made based on the opponent the Dodgers play. The Pittsburgh Pirates lead the National League with a .742 OPS against lefties. The St. Louis Cardinals are 13th with a .667.

Prediction: If the Dodgers face Pittsburgh, Nolasco will pitch Game 3. If they face St. Louis, Ryu will pitch.

Overall, it was a bad week for Dodgers pitchers, who allowed an average of 5.29 runs per game, but that was wildly skewed by the 19 runs San Francisco scored Saturday -- against several pitchers who won’t even be on the post-season roster.

Greinke allowed one run in six innings against the Giants Thursday and Kershaw was fine, though he blamed himself for giving up a lead in the seventh inning.

Grade: C-

DECISION-MAKING

Don Mattingly is beginning to treat questions about injuries as an NFL or major-college football coach would. He provides the fewest possible details and the vaguest possible timetables.

Regardless of his public stance, how he handles this rash of injuries could have a major impact on the Dodgers’ chances next month. By all indications, he’s going to give Ramirez, Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier all the time they need. Bravo. Why chase homefield advantage when there’s no evidence it makes any difference where these games are played? Since the current playoff formats were instituted, the ALDS and ALCS both are exactly 50-50 between home and road teams.

Grade: B

CHEMISTRY TEST

The man who said the Dodgers “can’t buy chemistry,” before spring training -- first baseman Brandon Belt -- went 6-for-13 with a home run and six RBIs in the series at Dodger Stadium over the weekend. So, he’s got that going for him. Living well might be the best revenge, so the Dodgers can just leave that one alone.

There are a lot of different personalities in the Dodgers clubhouse. Last week, Mattingly called Michael Young the “anti-Brian Wilson,” because of his quiet, attention-shy demeanor. Who would the “anti-Yasiel Puig,” be?

Probably Mark Ellis, who said this in an interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com two months ago: "Nobody would watch baseball if everybody was like me. You need guys like [Puig] that are entertaining."

Either way, the key is tolerance. And, so far, little evidence has emerged that personality conflicts are disrupting the team’s ability to function at a high level.

Grade: B

STATE OF CONTENTION

This week couldn’t be simpler. The Dodgers will be NL West champs for the first time in four years if they win two games in these next four in Arizona.
If they do, we can just wait to find out who they play and where they’ll play in the playoffs. No use getting too worked up.

If they lose three of four or worse, they’ll have to take the party to San Diego or San Francisco, but the champagne won’t taste any less bubbly in the cooler climate.

Grade: A-

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

LOS ANGELES -- A month or so ago, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he considered Adrian Gonzalez his team's MVP, a stance that's becoming difficult to defend from a statistical standpoint.

Clayton Kershaw, Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig all have higher WARs despite playing in a fraction of the games Gonzalez has (and, remember, WAR is a counting stat).

But in addition to hitting, hitting for power, throwing, fielding and running, there's a sixth tool that might be the most crucial of them all: staying on the field. Some people consider staying healthy a skill, and Gonzalez has been a master of it.

Since he established himself as an every-day player in 2006, Gonzalez has never missed more than six games in a season. With the rain of injuries the Dodgers endured in the season's first few months, that ability has been crucial to this team's chances. It became clear again Thursday, when Ramirez had to be pulled once again because of a tight hamstring.

"I think you look back at the season and you think that Adrian's really been the glue that kept us going, kind of kept us hanging around," Mattingly said after Gonzalez drove in the winning run in the 10th inning of the Dodgers' 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. "It could have been a lot worse with all the injuries. Adrian was able to kind of steady the ship almost and just keep us around."

As usual, Gonzalez is hitting better with runners in scoring position (.326) than he is without runners in scoring position (.285). He has long been a master of the clutch hit, largely because he simplifies in pressure situations. He lined a single just past diving shortstop Brandon Crawford to drive in Carl Crawford from second base Thursday.

The Dodgers have enjoyed eight walk-off wins at Dodger Stadium this season, and Gonzalez has been in the middle of many of them. He has enjoyed them so much, he'd like to do it again in a few weeks. Gonzalez has been to the playoffs only once, in 2006, when he batted .357 for the San Diego Padres.

"That's one of the reasons why we want home-field advantage in the playoffs, because you get an extra edge," Gonzalez said.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers took another step toward favorable playoff positioning, but they did so with a slight limp.

In front of another sellout crowd on Thursday night, they beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in 10 innings when Adrian Gonzalez laced a single into center field to score Carl Crawford. But earlier, one of their recurring injury headaches returned.

Hanley Ramirez left the game in the seventh inning because of a mildly strained left hamstring, a move the team termed "precautionary." Perhaps it is, but Ramirez missed most of May and part of June because of that same strained left hamstring.

The Dodgers reduced their magic number for winning their division to five games, meaning they could clinch as early as Sunday, and stayed only two games behind the Atlanta Braves for best record in the National League.

Closer Kenley Jansen blew his first save since June after converting 18 straight chances. But that just set up the Dodgers' eighth walk-off victory this season.

The Dodgers turned a difficult double play to erase a Giants rally in the eighth inning. Juan Uribe picked up a Hunter Pence grounder, stepped on the third-base bag and threw to first base, where Gonzalez dug an in-between hop out of the dirt.

The hitting hero, as is often the case, was Yasiel Puig. The Dodgers had largely spun their wheels against Matt Cain, but A.J. Ellis hit a sinking popup to right field that Pence misplayed into a single in the seventh inning. Two outs later, Puig yanked a ball into the left-center gap to drive in pinch runner Dee Gordon with the go-ahead run.

The Giants didn't actually score much against Zack Greinke, but they made him work hard to get his outs. Consequently, his pitch count was in the 70s by the fourth inning. The Giants' only run came on Pence's home run in the second inning, which sliced into the right-field stands just out of Puig's reach.

In the same inning Ramirez exited the game, the Dodgers had a strange mix-up on the mound. Paco Rodriguez threw his warmup pitches, but was then replaced by manager Don Mattingly before facing a batter. Apparently, Mattingly had told plate umpire Gerry Davis that J.P. Howell was coming into the game.

So Howell came in and pitched a scoreless inning. Rodriguez was still eligible and pitched an inning later.