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

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

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

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

SCORING

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

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

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

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

Grade: D+

DEFENSE

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

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

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

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

Grade: A-

DECISION-MAKING

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

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

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

Grade: B

CHEMISTRY TEST

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

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

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

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

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

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

Grade: A

LOS ANGELES -- Matt Kemp wasn’t there the day Yasiel Puig arrived from Chattanooga, Tenn. In fact, had Kemp not gotten hurt, Puig might have spent the season in the minor leagues, or at least had his rocket ship of a rookie season stalled on the launching pad for a while.

Kemp was in the lineup for only 11 of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 42 wins from June 22 to Aug. 7, when their pace was the best 50-game snippet the National League had seen in almost 70 years.

He got there in time to celebrate in the pool and clubhouse during the Dodgers’ NL West-clinching party in Arizona, but just barely. It was his fourth game back after missing two months.

So, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is perfectly correct to say the Dodgers can not only win without Kemp, they have won without Kemp.

But the timing isn't ideal.

News that Kemp is lost for the postseason came at an awkward moment. The Dodgers were on the field whipping up fan frenzy for their first playoff appearance in four seasons Sunday at the exact moment Kemp, inside the Dodgers' clubhouse, was informing reporters he’d been shut down for the rest of the season.

Not exactly some happy news to go sailing with into October.

But the real reason Sunday’s news left such a mark was that Andre Ethier’s availability for the first round of the playoffs hangs by a thread. Ethier might not have been an impact offensive player this season, but he was a solid contributor to the offense and a reliable glove in center field. As long as other hitters were providing the power around him, Ethier kept the Dodgers’ lineup humming along.

Ethier hasn’t run since the Dodgers shut down his running program last week in San Francisco. If he makes the roster for the Dodgers’ series in Atlanta, it figures to be as a pinch hitter.

So, yeah, Kemp’s injury might have just reduced the Dodgers’ chances of advancing to the National League Championship Series by a few percentage points or so, depending on how healthy some of the other nicked-up Dodgers are.

“It’s not going to be easy. He does big things, but, at the same time, we just have to play as a team,” Hanley Ramirez said. “Everybody knows that Matt Kemp is a great player.”

In 2013, Kemp wasn’t a great player, actually. He was an average player, maybe slightly below average for an outfielder. In Kemp’s most recent stint on the disabled list, for the ankle, the Dodgers went 36-17 without him.

But his threat gave the Dodgers’ offense more length. Pitchers have reason to fear Kemp and, to some extent, Ethier.

Now, they’ll see either Skip Schumaker, who is virtually devoid of power, or someone such as Scott Van Slyke, whom they probably have never heard of. Plus, the Dodgers’ bench gets a little worse whenever Schumaker is inserted in the starting lineup.

The Dodgers, however, are far from doomed. If Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw pitch to their capabilities, you and I could probably take up a couple lineup spots and the Dodgers could survive.

Schumaker started in center field in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the 2011 World Series, and it didn’t seem to hurt the St. Louis Cardinals much. They were world champions. If the Dodgers can get by Atlanta, Ethier should be healthy enough to play in the next round.

At times, Kemp showed glimpses of his MVP-caliber 2011 and April of 2012, when he was, arguably, the best all-around player in the game. He batted .314 with three doubles and a home run in his last 11 games, but there were also troubling signs, even in the good times. In those 11 games, Kemp struck out seven times, three more times than he walked.

He would have been particularly useful against the Braves, who could use two left-handed starting pitchers against the Dodgers in Mike Minor and Paul Maholm. The other team the Dodgers could have played, the St. Louis Cardinals, have no left-handed starters.

Before Sunday’s game, Mattingly -- a onetime batting champion and longtime hitting coach -- talked about what he saw in Kemp’s swing over the past two weeks.

“It still looks, to me, like a spring training, because you’ll see bad days then good days, good days then bad days,” Mattingly said. “To me, that’s what the early season is. You see guys who one day look like they’re getting there and the next day are out of sorts again. We haven’t seen that locked-in look like what Matt had at the end of ’11 and beginning of ’12.

“But he definitely looked more like the beginning of ’12 than the beginning of this season.”

So, the Dodgers might have seen Kemp’s comeback forestalled. And, who knows, had his ankle held up, he might have been the one leading them to World Series glory. It just seems a tad ill-informed to suggest he was the only one capable of doing it.

LOS ANGELES -- Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies began to take on a spring training feel, with starting pitchers piggy-backing each other's outings, with Triple-A players all over the field in the final innings and nobody seeming too worked up about the result.

When you can afford to play like that in Game 162, you’re usually in pretty good shape.

The meaningful action came in the middle of the game, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs to sew up the National League’s top seed, locking in the Dodgers’ first-round playoff opponent: the Atlanta Braves.

The Dodgers went 2-5 against the Braves this season. They got swept in a three-game series in Atlanta and split a four-game series at home, but both of those series came during the Dodgers’ dark days, when they were beset with injuries, and only die-hard Dodger fans had ever heard of Yasiel Puig.

One of the things the Dodgers will begin to find out Thursday, when they open the National League Division Series at Turner Field, will be whether their sluggish September will impact their hopes of playing deep into October.

The season ended with a whimper, with the Dodgers scoring two runs the past two games against the team with the worst ERA in the National League.

That reflected a longer-term slowdown. The Dodgers were the hottest team in baseball until they got swept in a three-game series in Cincinnati. After Sept. 5, the Dodgers went 9-14 to end their season. In many of those games, manager Don Mattingly rested more than one of his everyday position players, cognizant of a big division lead and the fragility of his team’s health.

Hyun-Jin Ryu allowed two runs Sunday, somehow working around eight hits, in four innings and finished his rookie season with an even 3.00 ERA. He will pitch Game 3 of the Dodgers’ first-round playoff series at Dodger Stadium next Sunday.

Much of Sunday was about auditions and brush-up work. Ricky Nolasco, who figures to be the Dodgers' Game 4 starter, if they need one, pitched a scoreless inning. So did Chris Capuano, who is bidding to latch onto a job as a reliever coming off a groin injury.

It was a good season for the Dodgers' box office. Sunday was the 29th sellout, the team announced, the most at Dodger Stadium since 1983. They drew 3,743,527 fans on the season, best in baseball.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rockies

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

Dodgers

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

LOS ANGELES -- 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—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

The game that sent the Los Angeles Dodgers to the playoffs wasn’t particularly reflective of the kind of season that got them there.

It wasn’t very well-pitched, with Ricky Nolasco melting down and allowing six runs in the third inning. Its biggest hit came from a player in a deep slump, catcher A.J. Ellis, who swatted the go-ahead home run.

And in the days following the win, much of the attention went to how the Dodgers celebrated -- with a romp in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ pool -- rather than on the accomplishment itself.

But the one shining moment from an otherwise blasé week for the Dodgers was that afternoon game in Arizona. It guaranteed that the rest of the week -- in which the Dodgers went a pedestrian 3-3 -- really didn’t matter all that much.

The minute Kenley Jansen got that final out, the rest of the Dodgers’ season became about preparing for the playoffs. They were the first team in the major leagues to clinch their division. So, yeah, it was a good week.

SCORING

It was fairly evident before last week, but it became even clearer in the past seven days. The Dodgers are really good when their star players are on the field and average when they are not. If you were to fret about one thing going into the playoffs and next season it would be the lack of depth, a problem created by a mediocre Triple-A team.

Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier all missed time due to injuries, most of them the nagging kind.

The day after the Dodgers clinched, they started a lineup entirely of Triple-A-caliber players and bench guys and they looked incapable of scoring a run while losing 2-0. The next day, the Dodgers started most of their guys with Clayton Kershaw on the mound and hit a pair of home runs to get Kershaw some rare run support in a 4-0 win.

Which lineup do you think is more likely to be on the field on Oct. 3, when the Dodgers begin the post-season? If they’re fortunate and if manager Don Mattingly manages to keep everybody healthy, it figures to be the latter.

In other words, the Dodgers are still a dangerous lineup even if they haven’t always looked the part lately.

Grade: B-

DEFENSE

Until his last two starts, Nolasco might have been a candidate to pitch Game 3 of the Dodgers’ first playoff series, perhaps nudging ahead of Hyun-Jin Ryu if the Dodgers faced a team adept at hitting lefties (eg., the Pittsburgh Pirates).

Now, it looks like Ryu is the right choice no matter who the Dodgers face. Nolasco allowed 11 earned runs on 16 hits in his last 6 1/3 innings and that raises red flags at this time of year, particularly because Nolasco has never pitched in the post-season.

On the other hand, the rest of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers stayed true to form and the bullpen at times was dominant. Kenley Jansen, entering his first post-season, and Brian Wilson, a closer on a World Series team, could be a solid combination at the end of games. Together, Jansen and Wilson struck out eight batters in six innings, simply shutting down the final innings.

Another area of worry, of course, is fielding, which has been slightly below mediocre all season. There will be times in the playoffs, when Hanley Ramirez and Michael Young are in the game at the same time, when the Dodgers have a highly permeable left side of the infield.

And, while Dee Gordon is tempting to keep on the roster because of his value as a pinch runner, it might be tough to carry him because he looks like such a defensive liability.

Grade: B-

DECISION-MAKING

Mattingly has had some embarrassing moments lately. Two weeks ago, he gave the umpire the name of the wrong left-handed pitcher, meaning Paco Rodriguez had to leave the mound without ever throwing a pitch. Last week, he tried to remove a pitcher shortly after Rick Honeycutt had already visited the mound and was sent back to the dugout.

In neither case did it cost the Dodgers, but Mattingly and his staff aren’t going to want to be in those kinds of situations in October.

The front office is on a tear, with Wilson and Young both looking like excellent acquisitions and Carlos Marmol and Edinson Volquez even chipping in here and there.

Some people have been upset at Mattingly for resting his regulars so much, but it’s hard to knock him if you’re not sitting in on his meetings with the medical staff. And given the evidence about homefield advantage in the playoffs – it’s a 50-50 proposition in both the division series and championship series – it seems like the right course of action.

Grade: B-

CHEMISTRY TEST

The day after the Dodgers clinched, a group of players was lounging around the clubhouse in San Diego as TV commentators were discussing – what else – pool-gate. When the network showed Brian Wilson’s Twitter response to Sen. John McCain’s pointed criticism, the room erupted in laughter.

The Dodgers really don’t care what other people think about their celebration.

Their animosity with the Diamondbacks ran deep even before that incident, so it will be worth monitoring when the two teams face each other in spring training.

The Dodgers have become accustomed to deflecting criticism as a group this season. They’ve dealt with it after a series of brawls, when it was coming at rookie Yasiel Puig hot and heavy and, now, this. It doesn’t seem to have dented their sense of camaraderie. In fact, just the opposite.

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

If the Dodgers don’t start playing with a bit more urgency, they figure to open the playoffs on the road. And this is a problem, because…?

It’s not as if Kershaw and Zack Greinke aren’t perfectly capable of keeping a stadium quiet long enough to let the Dodgers offense come to life. Meanwhile, Ryu has a 2.23 ERA at Dodger Stadium, so he could be poised to finish an opponent off.

It’s far more important who the Dodgers play than where they play them, but since they have limited control over that, they’re better off getting their players as physically sound than worrying about home field.

Grade: A-

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."

(Read full post)

SAN DIEGO -- Don't read too much into Friday night's lineup.

The fact the Los Angeles Dodgers were starting six players who spent most of the season at Triple-A, two bench guys and a pitcher who figures to be nowhere near their postseason roster is kind of par for the course after a team clinches a division title.

The Dodgers' celebration probably didn't end with that little dip in the pool that you may have heard about, but probably continued on the flight from Arizona and spilled into San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter, where the team hotel sits.

What the team does beyond Friday might be more telling. Hanley Ramirez, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez -- each of whom has had some form of injury in the past two weeks -- will get plenty of rest between now and the end of the season Sept. 29.

Manager Don Mattingly spent a large part of his afternoon meeting with the Dodgers' medical staff and with the players themselves, to set up their programs for the last nine games. Mattingly said he would lean more toward resting players than fighting hard for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

"We feel like we can win anywhere," Mattingly said. "We feel like we can win on the road, but you want to be healthy."

There was some meaningful on-field activity. Ethier took batting practice on the field for the first time since injuring his ankle two weeks ago and could be playing in games by the final three-game homestand against the Colorado Rockies next weekend.

Here are the lineups:

Dodgers

1. Dee Gordon SS
2. Jerry Hairston Jr. 3B
3. Skip Schumaker 2B
4. Scott Van Slyke LF
5. Tim Federowicz C
6. Nick Buss CF
7. Alex Castellanos RF
8. Drew Butera 1B
9. Edinson Volquez RHP

Padres

1. Will Venable CF
2. Chris Denorfia RF
3. Jedd Gyorko 2B
4. Chase Headley 3B
5. Tommy Medica 1B
6. Kyle Blanks LF
7. Ronny Cedeno SS
8. Nick Hundley C
9. Robbie Erlin

PHOENIX – 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

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks play the third game of a four-game series in Phoenix tonight (10 ET on ESPN/WatchESPN). Arizona needs only one win in the next two days to win the season series for the third straight year.

Here are a few storylines you might hear about during the broadcast.

1. The Dodgers magic number to clinch first place in the NL West is two, meaning they can clinch with a win tonight.

This would be LA’s third division title in the last six years. However, in each of the last two instances (2008, 2009) the Dodgers were eliminated in the NLCS by the Philadelphia Phillies.

2. The Dodgers have overcome a number of injuries this season. In fact, they’ve used the DL 25 times, more than any other team in the Senior Circuit.

Matt Kemp made his first start off the DL Tuesday night and posted his first four-hit, three-RBI game since Sept. 26, 2012. This was also the fifth such game of his career (four have come against NL West opponents).

3. Paul Goldschmidt has belted five home runs and 18 RBIs off Dodgers pitching this season. His RBIs are tied with Colorado's Michael Cuddyer and San Francisco's Hunter Pence for the most among all players against Los Angeles this season.

In addition, Goldschmidt is riding a seven-game hitting streak that has seen him hit .566 (15-for-27) with nine RBIs.

4. The Diamondbacks have won their share of dramatic games this season. Arizona has 16 extra-inning wins, most by an NL team since the 1999 Atlanta Braves (17) and their 13 walk-off wins are a club record.

Misc. Notes
• Yasiel Puig is hitting .554 on the first pitch of an at-bat this season, the highest average in the majors (minimum 50 plate appearances).

• Arizona’s Didi Gregorius has had a solid rookie season. Among NL rookies, only Yasiel Puig (.401 to .328) has posted a higher OBP (minimum 300 at-bats).

• Opponents are hitting .071 (4-for-56) with runners in scoring position this season against Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah, definitely," he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PHOENIX -- Don Mattingly said he wasn't feeling any urgent need to clinch the division in the next few days, but his lineup Tuesday may have suggested otherwise.

Hanley Ramirez was back at shortstop hitting third and Matt Kemp was starting in center field batting fifth.

The Dodgers have lost nine of 12 entering Tuesday and, if they can't win one of their next three games here, they're left having to look at the scoreboard for help. It's far simpler to take care of matters when the entire race is in front of them.

"I think we're probably thinking a little too much about clinching as opposed to just winning games," pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. "But at the same time, we've got a pretty good lineup out there tonight."

Mattingly said he suspected Ramirez would be healthy enough to play Tuesday when he hit off a tee Monday and felt good. Kemp ran the bases once again before Tuesday's game and Mattingly said he showed less hesitancy while rounding second. Kemp, who was activated Monday but limited to a pinch-hitting appearance, says he feels ready to play now. He has been bothered by ankle and hamstring issues much of the season.

"I'd really rather win tonight, because I know we can't clinch tonight, but we can win tonight," Mattingly said.

Here are the full lineups for tonight:

Dodgers

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Mark Ellis 2B
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Scott Van Slyke LF
8. A.J. Ellis C
9. Zack Greinke RHP

Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton CF
2. Aaron Hill 2B
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Eric Chavez 3B
5. Martin Prado LF
6. Miguel Montero C
7. Gerardo Parra RF
8. Didi Gregorius SS
9. Patrick Corbin LHP