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LOS ANGELES -- If you found yourself frustrated -- or, perhaps, just bored -- watching Josh Beckett slowly, sloooooooooooooowly, put the Los Angeles Dodgers in an early hole Wednesday night, you were not alone.

Hours after he had left the game (and we do mean hours), Beckett admitted his month-long cold spell to start the season has begun to wear on him. It's May now, he's still winless and Wednesday night was his worst start yet -- a clunker that set the Dodgers on course for a 7-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies and took nearly four hours to complete.

Beckett (0-4, 5.24 ERA) once didn't really care about the size of the umpire's strike zone. He could throw a 95-mph fastball or some nasty breaking ball for a strike and get back to the dugout fast enough to keep his team warm. Now, when the umpire isn't giving him the corners to work with, he seems to spend hours trying to figure out ways to get hitters out. So far, he has come up with a lot of wrong answers.

As hard as it is to watch, imagine what it must be like to play behind.

"You can't leave your guys out there standing like I did in the first inning for like 40-45 minutes," Beckett said.

Beckett worked hard to refine his changeup this spring and he has thrown that pitch more than ever before in his career, about 18 percent of the time this season. But that alone hasn't made up for a fastball that has dipped about 4 mph over the past several seasons and a curveball that is only sporadically effective.

"Apparently, [hitters] have made an adjustment to me. It's a pretty good one, so I have to do something," Beckett said. "I can't just keep running out there and pitching like [crap]."

It's not as if the Dodgers should be panicking about their starting pitching, though they've churned through nine starters in a month. Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu are working at the top of their games. Zack Greinke should be back in another month or so. Matt Magill looked like a major-league caliber arm while making his debut.

But as they set sail into a seemingly endless schedule, it would be reassuring to see Beckett settle into something like a comfortable groove. Though he got batted around most of last season in Boston, many people thought he would thrive in the National League. He looked solid late last year for the Dodgers but has failed to get through six innings in four of his six starts this year.

"It starts to creep on you, it's one outing and then it's another outing and then it's getting to be a little bit of a hole as you think about trying to climb out of that," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It's not going to be one start and you're back to .500. You have to pitch good for a while."

Beckett has half of that equation down. He pitched for quite a while Wednesday night even if he didn't get through many innings. The good part is a work in progress.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers are having trouble getting on a roll and the culprit, surprisingly, has been herky-jerky starting pitching.

Clayton Kershaw dominated Sunday. Ted Lilly stunk up the place Monday. Hyun-Jin Ryu dealt Tuesday. Josh Beckett looked like he didn't want to throw the ball Wednesday evening, setting a discordant tone in the Dodgers' 7-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Beckett seemed frozen in amber for the early innings, launching the game on a glacial pace and putting Dodgers' defenders on their heels. The team showed some fight, but never really recovered.

The first three innings were drawn out over nearly two hours, much of that time Beckett simply staring in at catcher A.J. Ellis' mitt. He spotted Colorado a 3-0 lead when he allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base (one of them on a routine grounder that clanked off Hanley Ramirez’s glove for an error).

Beckett lasted only four innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks.

One month into the season, Beckett (0-4, 5.24 ERA) still is looking for his first win. He has had some good starts, notably that April 14 masterpiece in Arizona, but he has also failed to get through six innings in four of his six starts. The Dodgers are 1-5 when he pitches.

His short outing put some more weight on the Dodgers’ bullpen, which had to soak up six innings in a 12-2 loss Monday and had to mop up for Beckett two days later.

Ramirez was a little slow at times, too, such as when he stood at home plate admiring his opposite-field "home run" in the bottom of the first inning. It wasn’t a home run. The ball landed on the warning track and Ramirez had to kick it into gear to pull into second base standing up.

One encouraging trend has been the rapid return of Ramirez’s hitting. After missing nearly six weeks recovering from thumb surgery, Ramirez has two doubles and a home run and is 5-for-9 in two starts. In the team's other 25 games, all other Dodgers shortstops combined have two extra-base hits.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have taken this decision about as far as they can go.

It has been five days since Mark Ellis left a game because of a strained right quadriceps and he continues to feel something when he runs. Now that Carl Crawford is also nursing an injury -- a tight right hamstring -- Dodgers manager Don Mattingly says he is increasingly uncomfortable carrying two injured players on the 25-man roster.

It appears Ellis will go on the 15-day disabled list Friday when the Dodgers activate pitcher Clayton Kershaw from the bereavement list to pitch that night in San Francisco. Kershaw has been in Dallas to be with his family after the death of his father.

Crawford was out of the lineup for a second straight day Wednesday, but Mattingly said his injury doesn't appear serious enough to merit a stint on the DL. Ellis (.342) and Crawford (.308) were two of the hotter Dodgers hitters before the injuries.

To try to spark some action at the top of his lineup, Mattingly inserted Hanley Ramirez in the No. 2 spot. Ninety percent of Ramirez's at-bats last season came in the Nos. 3 through 5 spots in the lineup. Mattingly said he doesn't anticipate leaving Ramirez in the second spot permanently.

Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was back in Colorado's lineup after missing two games following a hand injury from an awkward headfirst slide into home plate in Sunday's game.

Here are the rest of Wednesday's lineups:

Colorado
1. Eric Young RF
2. Dexter Fowler CF
3. Carlos Gonzalez LF
4. Troy Tulowitzki SS
5. Michael Cuddyer 1B
6. Wilin Rosario C
7. Nolan Arenado 3B
8. Josh Rutledge 2B
9. Juan Nicasio RHP

Dodgers
1. Nick Punto 2B
2. Hanley Ramirez SS
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Matt Kemp CF
5. Andre Ethier RF
6. A.J. Ellis C
7. Skip Schumaker LF
8. Juan Uribe 3B
9. Josh Beckett RHP

LOS ANGELES -- After the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, Dodgers employees ushered pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu back onto the field, where he traded memorabilia and posed for photo ops with global YouTube sensation Psy, known in the two mens' native South Korea as Park Jae-Sang.

Afterward, Psy -- his hair lacquered down, dark sunglasses over his eyes -- burst into the Dodgers' clubhouse with "Gangnam Style" blaring, prompting an uproar from Dodgers players. It was a bit of a circus. Imagine if the Dodgers had lost.

"I'm just really thankful that the game turned out the way it did. It would have been a really different situation if it had gone the other way," Ryu said through an interpreter afterward.

Everybody was in the mood for a little bouncy Korean pop music because of Ryu. He zapped the hangover from Monday's miserable 12-2 loss and buzzed through a tired and befuddled Rockies lineup, piling up 12 strikeouts.

Some people thought Ryu would struggle with the transition to a tougher league and a different culture. If anything, he's taking it to major league hitters, not the other way around.

Ryu touched 93 mph a couple of times early in the game, setting a tone that allowed him to use changeups and curveballs to greater effect later. The Dodgers have been impressed -- not so much with his raw stuff, but with his craftiness.

He often works backward. He can use breaking balls to get back in counts. He's hard to predict. For a 26 year old who was basically the Randy Johnson of the Korean Baseball Organization, he has shown surprising finesse.

"Especially if you get a younger guy who doesn't understand how the guy yo-yo's you a little bit, it's going to be trouble for you," manager Don Mattingly, seeing it from a hitter's perspective, said.

Ryu signed with the Dodgers just four months ago. He has made six major league starts, going 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA and 46 strikeouts in them. He might not feel entirely acclimated yet, but he's showing no signs of culture shock.

"I realize I'm in America every time I start. Every time I take the mound, I see how big these parks are and how many people come out," Ryu said. "But everything's been going well, and I'm really happy."

LOS ANGELES -- A night after playing their worst game of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally looked like the total package.

Korean pop star Psy danced in the aisle next to the Dodgers' dugout (in front of a bored-looking Tommy Lasorda) in the fourth inning. All the while, his countryman, Hyun-Jin Ryu, was tying the Colorado Rockies in knots. Ryu struck out 12 batters in six innings of the Dodgers' 6-2 win in front of 47,602 fans at Dodger Stadium.

It certainly appears Ryu is making a comfortable transition from the Korean Baseball Organization. He is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA after six starts, and he has just one fewer strikeout than ace Clayton Kershaw's 47 (with two fewer walks).

Ryu's dozen strikeouts were the most by a Dodgers rookie since another pitcher, Hideo Nomo, was making the leap from Japan. Nomo struck out 13 New York Mets on Aug. 20, 1995.

Meanwhile, Hanley Ramirez returned to the Dodgers' lineup -- on the night the Dodgers gave away his "I See You" bobbleheads -- and had a home run and double.

The Dodgers' offense has a deeper look with Ramirez back in the fold. It swarmed all over Colorado pitcher Jorge De La Rosa, improving to 8-0 against the left-hander by scoring six runs in the first three innings. Two scrappy utility guys, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Nick Punto, set the table at the top of the order, and the larger guys behind them cleared it.

Matt Kemp finally cut down his swing and had an RBI single in the first inning. Ramirez hit a towering solo home run to left in the third inning and lined a double to center in the fourth.

Ramirez had played in just two minor league rehab games after missing about five weeks recovering from surgery to his right thumb. He did look a bit awkward at times making throws from shortstop while wearing a flexible splint on his right hand.

LOS ANGELES -- When Ted Lilly started feeling some tightness in his back the day after his April 24 start in New York, he kept it to himself. The first time he mentioned it to Los ANgeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly or the team's training staff was when the pain came back during Monday night's start.

That didn't sit well with Mattingly the next day.

Lilly lasted just three innings in the Dodgers' 12-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies. His short outing left the Dodgers' bullpen depleted enough that the team had to use utility man Skip Schumaker to pitch the ninth inning, then call up long reliever Javy Guerra from Triple-A Albuquerque the next day.

"If we would have known about that, we could have made plans to have a guy here who was extended and not had to take a chance of having it, in a sense, affect tonight's game," Mattingly said. "Let us make some plans and give us a chance to win. That part's a little frustrating."

Lilly, 37, was examined Tuesday and could still be headed for the 15-day disabled list. Even if he's not, the Dodgers might go with rookie Matt Magill to pitch Saturday's game in San Francisco. To make room on the roster for Guerra, the Dodgers optioned Josh Wall to Albuquerque. Wall gave up seven earned runs in two innings after Lilly left the game, his ERA ballooning to 18.00.

Here are lineups for Tuesday's game:

Colorado
1. Dexter Fowler CF
2. Josh Rutledge 2B
3. Carlos Gonzalez LF
4. Michael Cuddyer RF
5. Jordan Pacheco 1B
6. Nolan Arenado 3B
7. Yorvit Torrealba C
8. Jonathan Herrera SS
9. Jorge De La Rosa LHP

Dodgers
1. Jerry Hairston Jr. LF
2. Nick Punto 2B
3. Matt Kemp CF
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Hanley Ramirez SS
6. Andre Ethier RF
7. A.J. Ellis C
8. Juan Uribe 3B
9. Hyun-Jin Ryu LHP

LOS ANGELES -- Maybe the Colorado Rockies are due to come tumbling painfully back to earth. And maybe the Los Angeles Dodgers aren't doomed to stay in this one-step-forward, one-step-back waltz with mediocrity all season.

But for one game in late April, the gap between the division's first place team and its fourth place team wasn't hard to spot.

The Dodgers had their worst pitching performance since last June in a 12-2 loss to the Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. Colorado stacked up 19 hits, or 13 more than the Dodgers could manage.

The snapshot of the Dodgers' night was utility man Skip Schumaker pitching the ninth inning (a scoreless one). He became the first Dodgers position player to pitch in a game since Mark Loretta in July 2009.

A tiny throng of fans left in the stadium chanted, "Let's go Skip!"

Ted Lilly, making his second start since coming off the disabled list, needed 71 pitches to get through three innings ... and he barely made it that far. The first four batters he faced had sharp hits, two of them home runs. Things got even messier, believe it or not, in the third, when Lilly walked in a run among other forgettable deeds.

Lilly, 37, had pitched well for five innings in the first start upon his return, last week in New York. He entered the season awkwardly, put on the 15-day disabled list against his wishes. Now, the Dodgers could be tempted to use rookie Matt Magill in Lilly's place next rotation turn. Magill pitched into the seventh inning in his major league debut Saturday.

Reliever Josh Wall couldn't live up to the standard that Lilly had set earlier. The Rockies scored seven times off Wall in two innings. Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood was 3-for-3 with two RBIs on three sharp singles in his first three plate appearances.

A Dodgers trainer visited both pitchers at some point in their outings, but neither pitcher left the mound due to injury.

As bad as things were, they could have been worse. Matt Kemp had a 92 mph fastball headed straight for his head in the fourth inning. He ducked out of the way and it appeared to carom off his shoulder and glance off his nose.

The few thousand fans that remained in the seventh inning were rewarded with a couple of little treats: Jerry Hairston Jr. homered to snap the shutout and Hanley Ramirez made his return to the field, taking a called third strike. Ramirez had thumb surgery March 22 and was activated from the DL on Monday afternoon.

The Dodgers will spend part of the two hours before they take the field for Monday night's game with the San Francisco Giants rooting hard for a man who last wore a Dodger uniform 29 years ago.

"I know Dusty (Baker) well enough to know he's going to want to win those games in St. Louis," manager Don Mattingly said Sunday.

Had the Dodgers not fumbled their way through the first three weeks of September, they wouldn't be left having to root so hard for Baker's Cincinnati Reds over the next three days.

They did and now they are.

Oddly, their fate might come down to who wants it more -- the Reds or the San Francisco Giants. While the Cardinals, who lead the Dodgers by two games for the final wild card with three games left, play one first-place team -- the Reds -- the Dodgers play another -- the Giants.

The Reds have a tiny bit more to play for -- they could clinch the best record in the league and lock up home field throughout the postseason -- but the Dodgers know such things are far from major motivators at this time of year. They witnessed it Sunday when the Washington Nationals lost 10-4 to the Cardinals and had their manager, Davey Johnson, say afterward, "It's better to clinch at home anyway."

You can't get a much flimsier safety net than to be two games out with three to play. And the Dodgers know they cut the holes in that net on their own.

"We played ourselves into this deal and now we've got to dig out way out of it," said pitcher Josh Beckett.

If only they could. Even if they manage to beat Matt Cain on Monday night and then beat the Giants the next two days, the Cardinals still have to lose two games at home -- then the Dodgers would have to beat them at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

Far stranger things have happened, but it's not exactly likely. ESPN's Hunt for October gives the Dodgers just under a 5 percent chance of playing beyond Thursday. If only they could have been this team a week earlier. After going 13-22 for over a month, the Dodgers have won five straight games. They made it nearly impossible on themselves, and now they're trying to do the nearly impossible.

You can hear shades of "what-if" in the Dodgers' comments, even as they continue to insist they're still in it. In fact, they admit they sometimes think about what would have happened if they hadn't stumbled while rounding the far turn. Who knows, the National League teams that do qualify for the playoffs might be lucky the Dodgers don't get in -- assuming they don't.

"If we continue to do what we're doing, there's a chance we can squeak in there and, the way we're playing, I would like our chances against any team that we play against," Matt Kemp said.

I asked Mattingly if Johnson's comment about clinching at home bothered him. Not only didn't it, but Mattingly sympathizes with a manager trying to coax a team to the end when it has already reached its primary goal.

"You can't talk your guys into thinking that they have to win it," Mattingly said. "It's almost like a spring training game at that point."

The Dodgers have to hope that Baker talks a better game than Johnson right about now.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their last-minute push.

They beat the Colorado Rockies 7-1 on Sunday afternoon to complete the three-game sweep and win their fifth straight game, but didn't gain any ground in the wild-card hunt. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 10-4 Sunday and have a two-game lead with just three games left.

Should the teams finish in a tie by the end of Wednesday's games, they would break it Thursday at Dodger Stadium. Both teams' final series are against first-place teams, the Dodgers hosting the San Francisco Giants and the Cardinals hosting the Cincinnati Reds.

The Good:

Catch a fire. How hot has Matt Kemp been? Well, in his past five games, he has 11 hits in 20 at-bats (.550), including three doubles, four home runs and nine RBIs. So, yeah, pretty hot. If you were to graph the Dodgers' fortunes and Kemp's hitting over the past six weeks, they would practically line up. If he had gotten his swing together a week earlier, would the team still be in this desperate position? If he hadn't gotten it together last week, would anyone still care about these games?

Causing headaches. Luis Cruz was hitting in the indoor batting cage Friday when a ball ricocheted off a pole and smacked him behind the left ear. He was feeling a little fuzzy and later had to come out of the game. Cruz apparently didn't have any concussion symptoms and he got back in the lineup Sunday, which proved important since he ripped a two-run home run into the Dodgers' bullpen to break the game open in the fourth. No matter what happens between now and Wednesday, this guy has been the positive story line of the second half.

Beckett's bounce. First-pitch temperature was 95 degrees and Josh Beckett looked like he wasn't particularly keen on exerting himself when he barely budged from the mound to cover first base on Rafael Ortega's little dribbler to first. But he seemed alert after that first-inning blunder, getting through six solid innings. Pitching in the National League seems to suit Beckett, and that's encouraging for next season. He allowed at least four runs in five of his final six starts for Boston, but has allowed three or fewer in five of his seven starts for the Dodgers.

The Bad:

The scare. This little Dodgers push probably would have come to an end if Kemp had gotten injured in a collision with Rockies catcher Jordan Pacheco in the fifth inning. Kemp had to make a read well before he got there and he barreled into Pacheco rather than trying a hook slide. The score was 4-1 at the time. You can't blame Kemp for his desire to score. You can question his judgment. Some have said he needs to ease up when he's approaching outfield walls, too. It's a fine line between playing smart and being passive, though.

Lefty situation. Don Mattingly wrote Andre Ethier into his lineup -- batting seventh -- Sunday even though the Dodgers were facing lefty Jorge De La Rosa and Ethier was hitting .220 off lefties coming in. It seems like that's the right thing to do. At this time of year, you want to go -- or go down with -- your best players. One of the keys to the Dodgers' 2013 season will be Ethier getting a better approach -- or more confidence -- against lefties. He went down against De La Rosa with a pop-up and strikeout.

Help. The Dodgers put themselves into this difficult spot by sleepwalking through the first three weeks of September. But they didn't get much of an assist from Washington, which clinched a playoff berth when the Dodgers were there 10 days ago. The Nationals allowed 26 runs in their three games with the Cardinals and lost two of them. They nearly blew a four-run lead in the only game they won before rallying to win it in extra innings. After Sunday's game, Washington manager Davey Johnson told reporters, "It's better to clinch it at home anyway." The Dodgers have to hope Cincinnati puts up more of a fight, because they need a lot of things to go in their favor this week.

The Dodgers may not know for a week or more whether Chad Billingsley will need surgery on his right elbow and be out for the 2013 season.

Billingsley has already begun a throwing program to test the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, but he has yet to throw from more than 60 feet or for more than 60 throws. The extent of his workout has been playing catch on flat ground.

When the season ends, Billingsley will go to the Dodgers' facilities in Arizona to continue his throwing program for three weeks. Friday, he is scheduled to increase the intensity of his workouts.

"I'm still going, so that's always good," Billingsley said. "But right now I can't tell you until I really start testing it."

Here are lineups for Sunday's game, with the Dodgers trying to stay in the playoff race, trailing the St. Louis Cardinals by two games for the final wild card:

Colorado

Josh Rutledge SS
Rafael Ortega CF
Jordan Pacheco C
Andrew Brown RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Charlie Blackmon LF
Matt McBride 1B
D.J. LeMahieu 2B
Jorge De La Rosa P

Dodgers

Mark Ellis 2B
Shane Victorino LF
Matt Kemp CF
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Hanley Ramirez SS
Luis Cruz 3B
Andre Ethier RF
A.J. Ellis C
Josh Beckett P

LOS ANGELES -- Information finds us nowadays. It finds us on an island in the South Pacific or in a yurt in the Gobi Desert. So, if you ever hear a baseball player in the midst of a pennant race -- surrounded by 40,000 people, most of whom have mobile devices -- say he isn't following out-of-town scores, realize he's either lying or indifferent.

There's no sign the Los Angeles Dodgers are either of those things.

"I think everybody looks at that scoreboard and sees what St. Louis is doing," Matt Kemp said.

In the sixth inning of the Dodgers' 3-0 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, the video board operator magnified the image from the right-field scoreboard that read, "WAS 6, STL 4 (10)."

By that point, manager Don Mattingly didn't need the scoreboard to tell him that Washington catcher Kurt Suzuki had hit the decisive two-run double to beat the Cardinals 1,800 miles east of here. He also knew what St. Louis had done to get things to that point.

"I knew they were up 4-0 from the phantom grand slam and then I saw 4-3 and then I saw 4-4," Mattingly said.

Whether it's the start of the charge that gets them deep into October or just a little late-season pizzazz -- and the smart money is on the latter -- there's nothing like a little split-screen action in late September and, at the very least, the Dodgers are treating their fans to some of that delightful theater.

After looking dead in the water, the Dodgers have won four in a row and everything feels different. The Dodgers know their final series, here against the San Francisco Giants, won't be meaningless. They didn't know that until St. Louis lost.

(Read full post)

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers are adding a hint of intrigue to what appeared to be a dull playoff picture in the National League.

They won their fourth straight game, shutting out the Colorado Rockies 3-0 Saturday night, to pull to within two games of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wild-card spot with four games left.

The Dodgers will enter their final series -- against the rival San Francisco Giants -- with a post-season pulse. The Cardinals' magic number remains three, meaning the Dodgers can't be eliminated until Monday, at the earliest.

The Good:

Good wood. Matt Kemp got a hanging curveball from Tyler Chatwood in the fourth inning and he did what he should do with those. He hit it so hard, it clanged off the bleachers about five rows from clearing the left-field pavilion. The Dodgers estimate it traveled 461 feet -- why the 1? -- but here are some numbers that are more impressive: Kemp reached 20 home runs for the fourth straight season. That's notable because only one other Dodger has ever done that (Eric Karros, six straight years) and because Kemp missed more than 50 games because of injuries this year. He also hit a towering shot to right field in the eighth.

Blank-ton. Joe Blanton has pitched well lately. In Cincinnati he got into the sixth inning, allowing just one run and striking out six. But Saturday's outing was Blanton's best as a Dodger and, maybe, his best since a complete game against the Minnesota Twins back in mid-June, when he was with the Phillies. Granted, the Rockies aren't exactly rolling out a championship-caliber lineup these days, but the Dodgers have some good things happening on the pitching front and Blanton's part of the story.

Blanket relief. The starting pitchers have been good. The key relievers have been virtually untouchable. Since Kenley Jansen came back, he has pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and pushed his way into the setup role. That has allowed the Dodgers to slot Ronald Belisario in the seventh inning. Brandon League is doing nothing to cede the closer's role back to Jansen. If these three keep it up, the Dodgers won't have to worry about close leads in these final few games.

The Bad:

The jinx. Before Saturday's game, somebody -- ahem -- asked Don Mattingly whether Luis Cruz had done enough to hold onto his everyday job next spring. Mattingly said, essentially, yes -- presuming something doesn't change between now and February. Of course, Cruz went out and had only his third hitless game in two weeks, including a strikeout. Later, he left the game because of a headache.

Timing. Watching the Dodgers hit the past few games left you wondering how they could have such a brutal offensive month before that. If you had those thoughts, you're not alone. "If it could have happened a little bit earlier, it would have been nice," Mattingly said before the game. Had the Dodgers snapped out of this funk just a week earlier, they probably would be protecting a lead going into Wednesday. Now, they're stuck in scramble mode, with any misstep probably knocking them out.

Consistency. Does Andre Ethier do anything in half steps, either good or bad? He snapped out of a six-game stretch in which he batted .160 to pick up three hits and score three runs Friday night -- with a left-hander, Jeff Francis -- starting for Colorado. Saturday, he had another rough night -- 0-for-4 with a double play and two strikeouts. Overall, the trend has been positive. He's batting .308 in his last 33 games. But it would be nice if he could even it out a bit.

LOS ANGELES -- Before this July, Luis Cruz had played in just 56 major-league games, including none in 2011. His career not only was teetering, but perhaps even foundering.

Now, according to manager Don Mattingly, he has cemented himself into the Los Angeles Dodgers' long-term plans as an everyday player. Cruz, who was called up July 2, is batting .306, including .360 since Sept. 14. He has played Gold Glove-caliber third base and become a folk hero among Dodgers fans, who chant his name every time he contributes.

Dodgers players were wearing T-shirts with "Cruuuuuz" on the back before Friday night's game.

"I'll be honest with you. I thought he was going to get exposed at some point, go through a cold spell," Mattingly said. "He's handled everything that they've given him. To me Luis came in and took the job, that's my opinion. There's nothing from him that says 'Don't play me.' "

If the Dodgers can scratch third base off their off-season to-do list, they could concentrate their resources on adding a starting pitcher. Otherwise, their roster appears virtually set, with established everyday players at every other position. Cruz will earn the major-league minimum in 2013.

Mattingly compared Cruz to a couple of other late-blooming players from different eras: Casey Blake, who became an everyday player at 29, and Gary Ward, who established himself at 28. Cruz is 28.

Here are lineups for Saturday night's game:

Colorado
Josh Rutledge SS
Charlie Blackmon LF
Jordan Pacheco 1B
Wilin Rosario C
Chris Nelson 3B
Andrew Brown LF
Matt McBride RF
D.J. LeMahieu 2B
Tyler Chatwood P

Dodgers
Nick Punto 2B
Andre Ethier RF
Matt Kemp CF
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Hanley Ramirez SS
Shane Victorino LF
Cruz 3B
A.J. Ellis C
Joe Blanton P

LOS ANGELES -- Josh Beckett had a reputation for being a difficult personality to work with before the Dodgers acquired him from the Boston Red Sox. Now, that perception has been perpetuated by comments made by Boston manager Bobby Valentine and one of Beckett's former teammates in Florida, Al Leiter.

The Dodgers insist things have been smooth since they acquired Beckett on Aug. 25.

"I didn't hear anything that Bobby said or Al said, but Josh has been great," manager Don Mattingly said. "He's given us absolutely zero problems, I think he's thrown the ball well. I haven't heard anybody complaining about anything, so I can really only talk about what we've seen and it's been great."

In an interview broadcast on ESPN New York, Valentine said he wished he had heeded advice Leiter gave him before the season began.

"The advice was that he had to make sure that he had Josh Beckett. Not contained and controlled ... but somewhere where he was on Bobby's side, because Josh could be difficult," Leiter told Kay, "and he was and it was a divisive kind of scenario and I don't know if he (Bobby) was able to do that."

LOS ANGELES -- In a way, it couldn't have worked out better.

In a way, it couldn't have worked out worse.

Clayton Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers' best pitcher and arguably the best pitcher in the National League, is lined up to pitch Wednesday's season finale against the San Francisco Giants, a team that figures to be gazing ahead at the upcoming playoffs. He's no longer feeling any pain in the hip that caused him to miss a couple of starts. He's raring to go in a game that matters.

Just one problem: It probably won't.

Time isn't on the Dodgers' side, even if Kershaw is. The Dodgers have to somehow find a way to make up two games in the standings and then they can hand the ball to Kershaw, who looked as healthy as ever pitching eight shutout innings and striking out 10 Colorado Rockies in an 8-0 win Friday night. The worst part about it is, between now and Wednesday, there's nothing Kershaw can do about it.

"It's part of being a starter. It's definitely the hardest thing about it," Kershaw said.

The Dodgers' chances, according to ESPN's Hunt for October, are 3.1 percent. Of the contenders, only the Milwaukee Brewers (0.1 percent) are in a more tenuous position. The Dodgers' offense appears to have awakened just after the nick of time, scoring eight runs in three straight games after going a month scoring that many just once.

And so, now, all they can do is hold their breath and try to get through these next four, hoping desperately that Kershaw's final start means something. Of course, the Dodgers can't afford to think about Wednesday. They have Saturday first, then Sunday and, if they're still alive, Monday. If they have even a momentary slip, the only debate will be whether Kershaw should even bother to make that final start.

"We've got to keep pressure on St. Louis. We've got to force them to win every day," manager Don Mattingly said. "That's what we have to do."