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LOS ANGELES -- Seems the Los Angeles Dodgers can’t even make it through pregame warm-ups without losing a key player to injury.

Matt Kemp was a late scratch Saturday evening against the visiting Colorado Rockies after feeling soreness in his left ankle. The Dodgers could have used his bat, as they were shut down by Rockies starter Juan Nicasio and a trail of relievers in a 1-0 loss in the penultimate game of the regular season.

Kemp returned Sept. 16 after missing two months with an injury to the same ankle and a hamstring strain that also popped up late in his rehabilitation. He's been hitting .314 since his return, though he’s hitless in his past nine plate appearances.

Kemp was penciled in to bat fifth and play center and was even announced on the scoreboard about 10 minutes before the first pitch, but it was Skip Schumaker who jogged out to center in the top of the first, with Nick Buss entering the starting lineup in right field.

Juan Uribe moved up one spot to No. 5 in the batting order and came up with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning. He fouled out to the catcher before left fielder Scott Van Slyke hit an inning-ending fly out to right. The Dodgers, who will open the NL Division Series on Thursday at either the St. Louis Cardinals or Atlanta Braves, remain the worst-hitting team in the majors with the bases loaded this season (.194).

Buss ended another Dodgers scoring threat by grounding out to first with runners on second and third and two outs in the second inning.

The loss prevented Dodgers starter Zack Greinke (15-4) from winning his eighth consecutive decision and matching his career-high win total. Greinke allowed one earned run on four hits and struck out seven without walking a batter. He lowered his ERA to 2.63, the second-lowest mark of his career after his AL Cy Young season of 2009 (2.16).

Greinke’s only miscue came against Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado with two outs in the fourth and Troy Tulowitzki on second base. Greinke left a 1-2 pitch over the plate and the Orange County native lined it into left-center field, where it fell just out of the reach of a diving Van Slyke.

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was held out of the starting lineup for precautionary reasons after twice fouling pitches off his lower left leg in Friday’s victory. He pinch-hit with two outs in the seventh inning and struck out on three pitches.

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.”

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.

LOS ANGELES -- Well, that sure didn't follow tradition.

Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw had just been staked to a two-run lead when he took the mound to start the seventh inning Friday night against the visiting San Francisco Giants, a team he had dominated in his young career.

Such a margin would normally be enough for the league's ERA leader to put a stamp on a victory -- or at least hand the lead over to the bullpen -- but instead Kershaw surrendered four straight base hits to the Giants, adding up to three runs in the eventual 4-2 victory by San Francisco at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers fell to 6-6 this month, as many losses as they experienced through all of August and one more than July.

Time for a closed door meeting? Hardly.

The Dodgers played without starting shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who was diagnosed with an irritated nerve in his back and won't return until next week, started the game without first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who was given the night off until pinch hitting in the seventh inning, and saw center fielder Andre Ethier limp off the field after doubling with two out in the eighth.

That left Nick Punto starting at shortstop, Michael Young at first base and Juan Uribe batting cleanup for the first time in more than three years.

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LOS ANGELES -- September can make for some weird moments, when players who have scarcely been heard from jump up and affect a season at a critical moment. Who knows, maybe they'll even affect a postseason game at a critical moment.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got a little dose of that Tuesday night, when Scott Van Slyke hammered a walk-off home run to give them a 5-3 11th-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. It trimmed their magic number for clinching the National League West to just six games, meaning they could be celebrating a division title as early as Saturday.

As nice as Van Slyke's shot was, two other young players who shuttled back and forth between Triple-A and the major leagues all summer could prove useful in a few weeks.

Shortstop Dee Gordon, who has had virtually no impact on this Dodgers season, could give them a dangerous pinch runner for the late innings of close games. Reliever Chris Withrow and his 98 mph fastball might come in handy, too.

Manager Don Mattingly still refuses to talk much about postseason roster possibilities until the Dodgers clinch, but he said both Gordon and Van Slyke will get long looks for a bench spot.

"One guy hits a home run, another steals a base," Mattingly said. "We'll kind of deal with those questions and throw them around upstairs and downstairs if we can get there."

Gordon could give the Dodgers another Dave Roberts nine years after Roberts stole that key base to spark the Boston Red Sox's World Series run. Gordon pinch ran for Adrian Gonzalez in the 10th inning Tuesday night, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

He stayed stuck there when Juan Uribe struck out on a 3-and-2 pitch from Josh Collmenter, but you could see how Gordon's presence on the bases distracted the Arizona reliever. The last thing a pitcher needs in a pressure-packed playoff setting is somebody that fast in his peripheral vision.

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LOS ANGELES -- There is a certain no-holds-barred quality to clubhouse humor. What can appear jarring to outsiders is part of daily life on a Major League Baseball team.

So, when Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez practically force-fed Juan Uribe a banana after the second of his three home runs Monday night -- in the dugout and in front of TV cameras -- none of his teammates in the vicinity seemed to think much of it.

Puig and Ramirez have taken to calling Uribe “King Kong.” It all started a few weeks ago when Ramirez went to Universal Studios, saw a billboard of the famous Hollywood icon and posted it on Instagram, asking if fans thought it bore a resemblance to the Dodgers' third baseman.

“I don’t think I should be involved with that,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said after the Dodgers’ 8-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday. “Only they can do that.”

Uribe explained.

“They call me a monkey,” he said. “Do I look like a monkey?”

Uribe can take a joke, even one that's borderline tasteless, particularly since he is often the one dishing the grief to other players -- in two languages. Brian Wilson usually gets it in English, particularly when he walks out of the clubhouse in some bizarre outfit, which is to say, on nights that end in "y."

For Ramirez and Puig, it’s a chance to get a little revenge on a man they embrace practically as an older brother. What little brother doesn’t live for that opportunity?

If it seems as if Uribe is the team clown, though, he’s quite a bit more than that. In some ways, he’s the conscience of the clubhouse, someone who commanded respect even when he was struggling to hit .200, and he is universally beloved now that he’s playing Gold Glove defense nearly every day and chipping in with his bat. He did more than chip in Monday, launching three of the Dodgers’ six home runs.

Near the end of 2012, when Uribe was batting .191 and practically stuck to the bench, it was widely speculated the Dodgers would simply release him. They didn’t, and now they’re awfully glad they continued to believe. After the Luis Cruz flameout, the Dodgers would have been stuck without a third baseman. Instead, they have one with a better-than-solid .760 OPS and one of the steadiest gloves in baseball.

"The one thing about Juan: He always, always, always played quality third base,” Mattingly said. “The thing that opened our eyes was how good a teammate he was last year. Luis was here tearing it up and the darling of L.A. last year for a period of time, and Juan was a really good teammate. He gained a lot of respect in that clubhouse.”

Uribe admitted the curtain call he received from more than 50,000 fans Monday was an emotional moment for him.

“I always wanted to be a person who has respect and shows that I care and have a good heart,” Uribe said. “Good or bad, you still have to be the same person.”

LOS ANGELES -- After they got swept in Cincinnati over the weekend, a couple of Los Angeles Dodgers players said it might have been a good time to hit a little losing streak. Don’t peak too soon. Learn to deal with a spot of trouble. That kind of thing.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly didn’t bicker with those comments after he read them.

“It humbles you enough to know that you have to be ready to play every day,” Mattingly said Monday.

It didn’t look like humility that earned the Dodgers an 8-1 win over the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, though. It looked more like confidence and raw strength.

The Dodgers hit six home runs, the most they've had in a game in seven seasons, with Juan Uribe going deep three times -- once more than he did all of last season -- to set the stage for a clinching celebration on their home field. The Dodgers increased their NL West lead to 12 games and reduced their magic number for clinching a postseason berth to eight. They have six games left on this homestand, two against Arizona and four against the San Francisco Giants.

It would have been hard to predict this kind of explosion, particularly since the Dodgers played three of their quietest games in months in Cincinnati.

These weren’t cheapies, either. Andre Ethier and Uribe launched back-to-back home runs leading off the second inning. Adrian Gonzalez sliced a two-run shot to left in the third. Uribe hit his second with two outs in the same inning. In the fifth, Hanley Ramirez hit a low drive that seemed to gain altitude as it flew, slamming into the center-field bleachers. Three batters later, Uribe hit another one.

He had a chance to hit his fourth in the eighth inning but swung at reliever Heath Bell’s first pitch and chopped it to Eric Chavez at third base. This was Uribe’s night, though. He beat the throw for another RBI hit.

Shawn Green, who happened to be at Dodger Stadium for a promotional event and was interviewed on the video board before the game, is the only Dodger to hit four home runs in one game. He accomplished the feat -- done 16 times in MLB history -- on May 23, 2002.

Oh, and by the way, Ricky Nolasco pitched well again. He went 6⅔ innings and allowed just three hits and one unearned run, while striking out six. Nolasco is 8-1 with a 2.07 ERA since he became a Dodger on July 6.

DENVER -- It's hard to know what the Los Angeles Dodgers learned about their newest pitcher Wednesday night.

On one hand, Edinson Volquez looked very similar to the pitcher who had a 6.01 ERA for the San Diego Padres before the Dodgers salvaged him from the scrap heap of August free agency. On the other hand, the Dodgers won't run into the Colorado Rockies in the playoffs.

Volquez made his first start as a Dodger and lasted just four innings in a 7-5 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field.

Even by the standards of this stadium, it was ugly. In the first two innings, Rockies batters collectively hit for the cycle. Todd Helton hit a majestic, soaring home run to right. Josh Rutledge tripled to center field, the ball short-hopping a wall that's 415 feet from home plate. Troy Tulowitzki pounded a double off the top of the left-field wall.

It's not often a pitcher performs as poorly against one opponent as Volquez has against Colorado this season. He actually lowered his season ERA versus Colorado, from 13.08 to 12.43, though his record fell to 0-5 in six starts.

The Dodgers didn't get much out of Wednesday's game, but they did see one of their best players, Yasiel Puig, get back on the field after sitting out a couple of games because of a sore knee. Puig pinch hit in the eighth inning and struck out against Manny Corpas.

Most of the Dodgers' main players watched most of it from afar.

In spring training, teams are supposed to field lineups with at least four regulars. The Dodgers might have run afoul of MLB with the squad they trotted out Wednesday evening. Hanley Ramirez, A.J. Ellis and Juan Uribe were the only regulars starting, with the rest of the usual starters getting a night off.

Manager Don Mattingly fielded a similar lineup and the Dodgers won on Tuesday, but this one didn't generate much action. Jorge De La Rosa had the Dodgers off balance and, when they got things going, something unraveled it. Scott Van Slyke hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the sixth.

Another new guy, Carlos Marmol, also didn't help his chances of sticking with the Dodgers when they align their playoff bullpen. Marmol gave up three hits and three runs in the seventh inning. It was a spring training-like inning. A ball from the outfield caromed off the mound for an error. Marmol committed a balk to let in a run. In his previous 10 appearances, Marmol had been unscored upon.

On the bright side, Michael Young has looked like a nice pickup, albeit in just two games. Young had three hits, including two RBIs, and is 4-for-9 since coming to the Dodgers in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their roll, but the man most often credited for starting it left the game with an injury.

Yasiel Puig was lifted after he hurt his right knee sliding into third base in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 10-8 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday at Coors Field. He briefly stayed in the game and scored a run, but was replaced by Skip Schumaker when the Dodgers went out to play the field.

The Dodgers described the injury as a mild strain and Puig's status is viewed as day to day. He has tended to return quickly from minor injuries this season.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers won again and they now lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by 12½ games, their largest division lead since September of 1977.

Their magic number for clinching the National League West is now just 14. The race has now become for the best record in the NL and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They trail the Atlanta Braves by two games for that spot.

The Dodgers won despite allowing 18 hits largely thanks to double plays. Ronald Belisario got a big one from Michael Cuddyer to keep the tying run from scoring in the eighth inning.

Meanwhile, as Matt Kemp continues to languish in his minor league rehab assignment, Andre Ethier is cementing his case for a starting center-field job regardless of Kemp’s health. Ethier launched a two-run home run off reliever Jeff Manship in the sixth inning, finally giving the Dodgers a quasi-comfortable lead in a typical Coors Field event.

Clayton Kershaw had pitched well at Coors Field this season, but like a lot of pitchers, it has never been his favorite place to work. He came into Monday’s start with a 4.98 ERA pitching at mile-high elevation.

That number got a bit worse after one of the shakiest starts of Kershaw’s career. He gave up 11 hits in five innings and allowed five runs. When the Dodgers rallied to take a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning, Kershaw gave the lead right back and it could have been worse if not for some loud outs in the inning. Nolan Arenado had an RBI double and Jordan Pacheco singled home Arenado.

The 11 hits were the most Kershaw had ever allowed.

The Rockies took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the Dodgers had action in their half of the inning. Puig interfered with second baseman DJ LeMahieu while trying to field an Adrian Gonzalez grounder and that cost the Dodgers a run. The next inning, LeMahieu leaped to snare a Puig liner that started an inning-ending double play.

 

DENVER – Somebody asked Michael Young, who grew up 20 miles from Dodger Stadium, who his favorite player was as a kid. Quickly, Young answered “Don Mattingly.”

It still didn’t get Young in the lineup Monday.

“We’ll see what he says once the season’s over,” Mattingly joked. “Sometimes, guys like you until they get to play for you, then they might not like you so much.”

Young flew from Philadelphia, where he hastily packed up his apartment, and met the team in Colorado before Monday’s game. There is a good chance he will make his first start Tuesday, because third baseman Juan Uribe is 0-for-15 in his career against Colorado’s starter, Jhoulys Chacin.

Young, 36, said he told Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro months ago that he would OK a trade to the Dodgers, not because it was the team he grew up rooting for, but because he wanted another chance at a World Series ring. He lost twice in the World Series when he was with Texas. Young has a full no-trade clause.

“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory,” Young said. “This is a hell of a team.”

Getting used to a part-time role could be something of an adjustment for Young, who has been one of the game’s most consistent everyday players in this generation. From 2002 to 2011, he played in at least 155 games every season but one.

“My role is winning player for the Dodgers,” Young said. “That’s my role. You could probably ask every guy in this locker room and they’d all probably want to get five at-bats a game. We wall want to play at a very high level, but the second the lineup goes up, it’s winning time.”

He’ll spell Uribe at third and, occasionally, Adrian Gonzalez at first, but the Dodgers don’t envision using him at either of the up-the-middle infield positions at this stage of his career. Young doesn’t tend to score well in advanced statistical measures of his defense, but Mattingly said he’ll keep an open mind.

“The times I’ve gotten to see him, I didn’t notice anything,” Mattingly said. “It’s like, early on, they told me Andre [Ethier] didn’t play good defense and I think he’s been good.”

Here are lineups for Monday’s game in Colorado:

Los Angeles

1. Carl Crawford LF
2. Yasiel Puig RF
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Hanley Ramirez SS
5. Andre Ethier CF
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. A.J. Ellis C
8. Juan Uribe 3B
9. Clayton Kershaw LHP

Rockies

1. Josh Rutledge SS
2. DJ LeMahieu 2B
3. Michael Cuddyer RF
4. Wilin Rosario C
5. Nolan Arenado 3B
6. Charlie Culberson LF
7. Jordan Pacheco 1B
8. Charlie Blackmon CF
9. Chad Bettis RHP

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson entered the clubhouse Sunday morning, looking like he just left a Grateful Dead concert. He wore a purple knit cap atop his jet-black hair, with a few loosely fastened dreadlocks flowing out the sides.

Juan Uribe and Hanley Ramirez burst out in laughter as Wilson strutted across the room, dropping a few barbs along the way. Wilson didn’t let those remarks sink in long before shooting back at Uribe, reminding him of the purple slacks he wore to Saturday’s game.

The Los Angeles Dodgers seem to sport a new look on a daily basis, and lately, that’s included a few new faces. Wilson made his Dodgers debut last week, giving the bullpen another veteran arm with World Series experience, as well as some personality to an already quirky locker room.

On Saturday night it was Michael Young who joined the fold. The veteran infielder was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for a minor league pitcher, giving the Dodgers another player with World Series experience, a batting title, a Gold Glove and seven All-Star appearances -- one of which led to the MVP award in the 2006 game.

There were a few furrowed brows when Young’s trade was announced, however.

After all, the Dodgers went 23-6 in August and have been satisfied with the play of Uribe at third base, the position Young has mainly played the past few seasons. The same can be said for second base, where Mark Ellis has been solid when healthy. Nick Punto has also done a stellar job occupying a utility role among the infielders.

The person responsible for integrating another new player into the mix, manager Don Mattingly, didn’t seem too concerned with that task prior to Sunday’s series finale against the visiting San Diego Padres.

“We’re not trying to bring Michael in here to knock Adrian [Gonzalez] off first base,” Mattingly said. “Michael’s here to add to our club, to give us added depth, give us a guy that can do a lot of things.”

Mattingly said he spoke with Young after the trade and “just wanted to make sure this wasn’t something that turned him upside down.”

“We’re not getting a young kid in the prime of his career, and I say that with all due respect,” Mattingly said. “This guy has had a career that he has done a lot of things, but he’s at a point also in his career where you understand where you’re at. We’re going to treat him with respect, make sure I’m honest with him about everything and just see where it goes.”

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LOS ANGELES -- The minute he walked out of the Dodgers' interview room, where he discussed the trade for veteran infielder Michael Young on Saturday night, general manager Ned Colletti reached Young on his cellphone.

Colletti said Young understood he won't be walking into the kind of role he had in Philadelphia, where he has had more than 500 plate appearances, or that he had in Texas, where he was the face of the franchise.

Colletti said Young was willing to accept a lesser role for a third crack at a World Series title.

"He could have vetoed the whole thing," Colletti said.

The Dodgers aren't interested in a move that could risk changing their direction. When you're coming off the best calendar month (23-6) in Los Angeles franchise history, when you have made up 20 games in the standings in less than 10 weeks, radical change really doesn't jump out as a good idea.

For a team that almost never loses, the Dodgers have been pretty busy making changes. They've added relievers Brian Wilson and Carlos Marmol, and starting pitcher Edinson Volquez. Now they add Young despite the fact that Young's .722 OPS is identical to that of their starting third baseman, Juan Uribe, and that Young isn't nearly the defender Uribe is.

It wasn't Colletti's intention to upset the apple cart, just to add a little more sustenance to the Dodgers' moveable feast. It's about depth. It's about competition. It's about experience.

"I kept it in the back of my mind for a while, because I didn't want to disrupt what we have going on here," Colletti said. "I think the room is great."

Of course, you could argue, then why do it?

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MIAMI -- In a way, the resurrection of Juan Uribe's career has come out of nowhere.
He batted .204 in 2011, his first year with the Dodgers, and .191 last season.

Now, he's the team's everyday third baseman -- rescuing the Dodgers from the disappointment of Luis Cruz's sudden decline -- and he has responded with his best season since 2009, according to wins above replacement (WAR). Uribe's WAR is 2.5. Evan Longoria's is 3.2.

In a way, maybe it's all perfectly natural.

Uribe is not only batting .283 with a career-high .340 on-base percentage, but his .985 fielding percentage trails only Placido Polanco in the National League. He said the dramatic improvement in his play stems from feeling physically sound again.

Uribe was bothered by a sports hernia throughout 2011, eventually undergoing surgery in September, and it affected his first two seasons with the Dodgers. He said he worked hard on his conditioning over the winter in the Dominican Republic and came to spring training in better shape.

"I'm not making excuses for anything, but I feel good again," Uribe said. "I feel a lot better to be able to help the team."

Uribe, 33, has seen his selectivity increase as his power has declined. Between 2004 and 2010, he hit at least 20 home runs four times. He has just seven in 315 plate appearances this season. Manager Don Mattingly said hitting coach Mark McGwire has worked with Uribe on hitting the ball to the middle of the field.

Uribe once had a reputation as one of the hardest swingers in baseball. He often would go down to one knee when he swung and missed.

"Juan's been good," Mattingly said. "It seems like he's not fouling nearly as many balls back and sometimes that is the byproduct of cutting down your swing just a little bit."

Uribe got Wednesday's game in Miami off, the product of Thursday being a day game, Mattingly said.

* Like Yasiel Puig the day before, Hanley Ramirez -- who also lives in the Miami area -- was nearly 30 minutes late arriving at the ballpark Wednesday. But unlike Puig's, Ramirez's tardiness was excused. He called ahead and informed the Dodgers he had to take his daughter to a medical appointment.

Here are the lineups for Wednesday:

Los Angeles
1. Carl Crawford LF
2. Yasiel Puig RF
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Hanley Ramirez SS
5. Andre Ethier CF
6. A.J. Ellis C
7. Jerry Hairston Jr. 3B
8. Mark Ellis 2B
9. Zack Greinke RHP

Marlins
1. Christian Yelich LF
2. Donovan Solano 2B
3. Giancarlo Stanton RF
4. Logan Morrison 1B
5. Ed Lucas 3B
6. Adeiny Hechavarria SS
7. Jake Marisnick CF
8. Koyie Hill C
9. Nate Eovaldi RHP

MIAMI -- Yasiel Puig’s first trip to play in Miami didn’t exactly have a storybook beginning.

His name (along with those of several teammates) surfaced in an Internet report about alleged partying in South Beach into the wee hours on Monday, he sniped at some members of the media in the clubhouse and then went out and lost the battle of Cuban phenoms to the Miami Marlins’ Jose Fernandez.

Puig was 0-for-5 in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-2 loss to the Marlins on Monday. He's batting .171 with 10 strikeouts and one RBI in his past nine games.

After striking out on a 97-mph Fernandez fastball in the fifth inning, Puig turned and had some words with umpire John Hirschbeck. The conversation continued when Puig got back to the dugout, with several Dodgers escorting Puig up the tunnel.

You could understand if his emotions were a bit amped up. The Marlins had a big crowd, by their standards -- 27,127 fans -- for the Puig-Fernandez matchup. Miami has the largest population of Cuban expatriates in the United States.

Not that Puig had anything to be embarrassed about. Fernandez has been as dominant as any pitcher in baseball for two months. In fact, since June 1, his ERA (1.65) has been better than Clayton Kershaw’s, or any other pitcher’s, for that matter.

The Dodgers didn’t hit him, but they did gradually wear him down, driving up his pitch count so that, by the end of the sixth inning, he had thrown 109. The Marlins are concerned about the 21-year-old’s workload and the sixth was his final inning. But the Dodgers couldn’t make headway against a shaky Marlins bullpen.

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LOS ANGELES -- The stadium was shaking Tuesday night.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been hot for a long time, but it wasn't until this homestand that Dodger Stadium has felt electric. It erupted in a roaring, throbbing mass Tuesday night after Mark Ellis' single over a leaping Derek Jeter drove in Andre Ethier in the bottom of the ninth inning to give them a 3-2 win over the New York Yankees.

That gave the Dodgers their second consecutive walk-off win. In their past five games, the Dodgers have drawn more than 250,000 fans. The Dodgers have won 27 of their last 33 games and their NL West lead is now 3½ games over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Dodgers had a rollicking July, but their bats hit a bit of a cold spell the past two games. They struck out 20 times and couldn't score until the 11th inning Sunday against Cincinnati, and veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte -- who came into the game with a 4.39 ERA -- navigated his way through seven innings pitching to them Tuesday.

Yasiel Puig, though, who was 4 years old when Pettitte made his major league debut in Kansas City on April 29, 1995, did not show much deference to his elder. Puig cranked the first pitch he saw from Pettitte off the top of the center-field wall for a double in the first inning. Puig scored on Hanley Ramirez's line-drive single up the middle.

Lyle Overbay homered off Zack Greinke an inning later, but Juan Uribe hit a towering shot just inside the left-field foul pole into the loge level to give the Dodgers another lead in the second.

Greinke had a so-so outing Thursday against Cincinnati and had his six-game winning streak snapped. He didn't get the win Tuesday, but it was a return to the borderline dominance the Dodgers had seen from Greinke most of July. He gave up only five hits and two runs with seven strikeouts in seven innings.

The Yankees are making their third interleague trip to Dodger Stadium, their first since 2010. The teams split a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium earlier this season.