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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

SAN FRANCISCO -- For a while, people were asking whether Ricky Nolasco should be the No. 3 or No. 4 starter in the playoffs. Now, a better question is whether he should be given the ball for any postseason starts.

That's how badly things have been going for Nolasco as the season winds down. For a month-and-a-half after the Dodgers acquired him from the Miami Marlins, he looked like the acquisition of the year.

After Wednesday's 6-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants, Nolasco (13-11) is 1-2 with a 12.75 ERA in his last three starts and he has given up 24 hits while pitching only 12 innings combined.

Wednesday was Nolasco's last start of the regular season. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly indicated the pitcher's stalled momentum won't impact how he feels about him as he sketches out his playoff rotation.

"Your guys are your guys," Mattingly said. "We're not all the sudden going to go do something different. Our guys are our guys. It's like saying a guy is struggling the last week, are you going to quit playing him?"

In his first 12 games with the Dodgers, Nolasco was 8-1 with a 2.07 ERA and he had held opponents to a .213 batting average.

On Wednesday, Nolasco put the Dodgers in a 3-0 hole in the second inning after Tony Abreu cranked a three-run triple to deep right field off the glove of Yasiel Puig, who lunged near the wall. Nolasco's best hope of holding onto the No. 4 spot is the Dodgers' lack of options. The next pitcher on the depth chart, Edinson Volquez, has pitched better lately, with a 3.50 ERA in his last three starts, but he is 9-12 with a 5.77 ERA for the season.

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LOS ANGELES -- Mark Ellis has 12 defensive runs saved, the most in the major leagues among second basemen not named Dustin Pedroia. He is eighth in something called ultimate zone rating, or UZR.

The gap between Ellis' defense and that of any other Dodgers second baseman is yawning, according to all the advanced statistical metrics.

And all of this means what, exactly, to Ellis?

"My agent tells me about them every once in a while, but honestly, I don't know what half of them mean. Nobody does," Ellis said. "I just go out there, try to put myself in the right spot and try to catch the ball."

That last comment encapsulates Ellis as a baseball player in 19 words. He just tries to put himself in the right spot and he tries to catch the ball.

Ellis is the least-flashy, least-obtrusive, lowest-maintenance everyday player on the Dodgers and, without many people knowing it, he's among the most valuable. On a team of brilliant athletes, $20 million-per-year salaries and puffed-out chests, Ellis falls under none of those categories. He's just a good player in all the ways most people don't bother to track.

Every other Dodger who has played second base this season combines for a minus-13 defensive runs saved, a chasm of 25 runs saved between those players and Ellis. The Dodgers are 68-35 when Ellis starts and 23-31 when he does not, entering Wednesday.

It all points to a player whose value is nowhere near suggested by his .264 batting average, his six home runs or his four stolen bases. It has become increasingly possible to isolate and study a player's value in every dimension of the game, but very few of those numbers show up in a box score on a daily basis.

Ellis routinely gives up at-bats to move runners over. He hangs on at second base in perilous situations and is among the best in the game at turning double plays.

"He’s just kind of day-in, day-out a solid player," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "You don't have to worry about Mark Ellis being ready to play or doing his work or anything at all."

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Barring some unforeseen circumstances -- or perhaps a misguided decision by the Los Angeles Dodgers to go with Ricky Nolasco -- Hyun-Jin Ryu will pitch Game 3 of the Dodgers' first-round playoff series.

If the Dodgers need that game to advance, or even if they need it to stave off elimination, it would appear they'll have the right guy on the mound. Ryu has certainly not looked overtaken by big moments.

Ryu pitched seven strong innings, giving up only four hits and a run in the Dodgers' 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday. It was certainly not a playoff atmosphere -- the Giants have been playing out the string since August -- but it was a game the Dodgers had to have if they want to maintain hope of opening the playoffs at home. The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals both won.

Ryu is 14-7 with a 2.97 ERA. Were it not for Miami phenom Jose Fernandez and the Dodgers' own Yasiel Puig, Ryu would have been a walkaway Rookie of the Year winner.

"I've surpassed my initial expectations," Ryu said through an interpreter. "Not that I thought it was going to be easy, but it's been much better than I thought. That's a good thing."

He had lost four of his previous five starts coming into Tuesday, but all four of those losses were quality starts. In a spotlight game in his native Korea, he pitched brilliantly in a Dodgers' win over the Cincinnati Reds and Korean superstar Shin-Soo Choo back in July. He gave up one earned run in his major league debut.

The Dodgers have gone 11-4 in his past 15 starts. Since the All-Star break, Ryu has walked nine batters in 11 starts while striking out 57. He can even hit a little, though his base running isn't exactly graceful.

"We couldn't have asked, really, for anything more," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Between now and the middle of next week, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be pondering the unkindest cut of all.

Jerry Hairston Jr. is a 12-year veteran who has won a World Series ring and competed in two postseasons. He has been part of the fabric of the Dodgers' clubhouse for the past two seasons. He's a gregarious, popular player who has, at times, helped bring along some of the team's young players.

But can the Dodgers afford to carry an aging, injury-prone utility player who, while playing sparingly, has batted .215 this season and .152 since Aug. 1?

"To be honest with you, I don't think about it," Hairston said. "The good thing about it is I don't make those decisions."

It's not as though the Dodgers don't know what their core is. They have four everyday options to play the outfield and, assuming Andre Ethier is healthy enough, they'll all be in the mix for heavy playing time in the playoffs. They have their five everyday infielders, including the catcher. They'll bring four starting pitchers with them and they haven't decided if they'll keep a fifth should they require a long man or emergency replacement.

They figure to bring seven relievers. Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker have played significant roles and look like locks. Tim Federowicz is the No. 2 catcher, so he's on.

Michael Young has batted .385 since the Dodgers acquired him from the Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 31 and, since they got him in part because of his postseason experience, he seems like a safe bet.

But what about Dee Gordon, whose speed makes him a tempting weapon, but whose lack of polish in other areas could make him an iffy proposition? Or, Scott Van Slyke, who can provide power off the bench, but is also somewhat uni-dimensional?

Between Edinson Volquez, Carlos Marmol and Chris Capuano -- all veteran pitchers -- one, at most, figures to make the cut. What about Brandon League, who has pitched poorly all season but is signed for two more years at $7.5 million per season?

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

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

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

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

"You stay ready," Capuano said.

Here are lineups for Tuesday's game:

Dodgers

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

Giants

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

SAN DIEGO -- The Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen looked more than ready for the postseason in a 1-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Sunday, keeping alive the team's hopes of opening the playoffs at Dodger Stadium.

Closer Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth, the fourth scoreless inning of relief by Dodgers relievers.

The Dodgers are barely in the hunt for the best record in the National League any more, but there are lesser prizes worth pursuing. The Atlanta Braves won, giving them a 2½-game lead over the Dodgers, who have only six games remaining.

The Dodgers could still begin the playoffs at home if they can finish with a better record than any of the teams in the National League Central. Entering their night game, the St. Louis Cardinals had a 1½-game lead over the Dodgers in that race.

Between Zack Greinke and Andrew Cashner, two of the hottest pitchers in baseball, the teams showed barely a hint they were going to score as the afternoon wore on. Finally, the Dodgers broke the ice in the seventh inning.

With two outs, Michael Young cracked a deep fly ball to right field. It sailed over Will Venable's head, but Adrian Gonzalez wouldn't have been able to lumber all the way around from first if Venable hadn't mishandled the ball.

San Diego put together a rally in the next half of the inning off reliever Chris Withrow but couldn't score. Logan Forsythe took a 95-mph fastball for strike three and pinch hitter Mark Kotsay taped one back to Withrow to end the inning.

The Dodgers pulled Greinke after just five innings and 72 pitches despite the fact he was cruising through San Diego's far-from-intimidating lineup. The Padres got two runners on with nobody out in the third inning, but after Cashner's bunt moved them over, Greinke coaxed an infield pop-up from Alexi Amarista and a groundout from Ronny Cedeno.

Greinke gave up only two hits and struck out three in his five innings. It's likely he was pulled early because of the upcoming playoffs, but the Dodgers allowed ace Clayton Kershaw to throw 99 pitches over seven innings Saturday night.

SAN DIEGO -- Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly insists he would like to have home-field advantage in the playoffs. He's just not extreme about it.

The Dodgers' lineups figure to get more competitive as the team gets closer to its first playoff game on Oct. 3, but the first post-clinching effort didn't go so well. The Dodgers, or perhaps we should say the Isotopes, lost 2-0 to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Friday night.

The good news was nobody got hurt. In fact, nobody who figures prominently in the Dodgers' playoff plans really could have gotten hurt (barring a household accident), because none of those guys played until the ninth inning.

The bad news was that it's looking more and more likely the Dodgers will open the postseason on the road. They trail the Atlanta Braves by 3 ½ games and the St. Louis Cardinals by two. If the playoffs started Saturday, L.A. would be opening at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

One positive development was a strong outing by Edinson Volquez, who is competing for a spot as a long man/emergency starter on the Dodgers' postseason roster. Bear in mind that he was facing the Padres, his former team and the No. 13 offense in the National League. But he had his longest outing as a Dodger, 6 ⅓ innings. Volquez gave up two runs and five hits and struck out six batters.

One negative development was more sloppy defense by Dee Gordon, who threw a ball away after fielding Chris Denorfia's grounder in the first inning, leading to an unearned run. The Dodgers have begun using Gordon at second base -- and even toyed with using him in the outfield -- and that seems like a reasonable course of action at this point.

Gordon has seven errors in 24 games at shortstop this season. His speed could come in handy in October, but carrying him strictly as a pinch runner could be a luxury the Dodgers can't afford, particularly with a bench filled with veterans.

Mattingly plans to play his regular lineup behind Clayton Kershaw on Saturday, with the exception of Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier.

"We'll be back at it tomorrow," Mattingly said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Signs of a professional hitter," Crawford said.

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

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PHOENIX -- It was an unusual division title-winning season. It started with a gradual descent followed by a massive, unrelenting climb before culminating in a short, late-season dip. But in the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves right where they expected to be all along.

They're the National League West champions, and they have designs on grander goals than that.

The Dodgers became the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot with their wild 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Thursday afternoon.

After closer Kenley Jansen got Aaron Hill to fly out to left field, the Dodgers streamed onto the field. Jansen and catcher A.J. Ellis were locked in a bear hug when Clayton Kershaw leaped onto Jansen's back. Players began putting on gray T-shirts that read, "We own the West."

The team formed a scrum, which gravitated to the second-base area before the Dodgers took their celebration inside to the clubhouse.

Ellis, in a deep hitting slump entering the game, hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning.

Hanley Ramirez is making a pretty good argument that he's the Dodgers' MVP, presuming you don't think a starting pitcher enters the discussion. The problem has been keeping him on the field. He largely was the Dodgers' offense Thursday, hammering a pair of home runs and driving in four.

Ramirez has hit 20 home runs while playing in just 81 games, his season hampered by thumb, hamstring and, lately, back issues. He was pulled in the ninth inning after appearing to pull up after running hard to first base trying to leg out an infield single.

It looked as if the Dodgers might walk into the playoffs when Ramirez hit his first home run, a three-run shot, into the left-field stands in the third inning. After the Dodgers had bumbled about for two weeks trying to get this division clinched, it seemed to ease the pressure in the dugout.

But Ricky Nolasco came unhinged in the third inning, giving up six runs on seven rapid-fire hits. With the Dodgers' bullpen a bit ragged after Stephen Fife's short start the night before, Don Mattingly left Nolasco out there and he managed to get through two more scoreless innings to give the Dodgers hope of a rally.

Yasiel Puig continued his beginner's-mistake-a-day tour getting a bad read on Jerry Hairston Jr.'s bloop to right field before Ramirez's home run. What would have gone for a base hit became a fielder's choice when Gerardo Parra easily threw Puig out at second. Afterward, Hairston was captured on camera yelling and gesturing in Puig's direction. Adrian Gonzalez later was seen in the dugout with his arm around Puig talking to him.

That's OK. The Dodgers have exactly two weeks to work out any issues before they play another game that matters.

PHOENIX -- Whether it's because everyone's paying closer attention, because the games often are well-pitched and close or because of the pressure everyone is under, postseason games often boil down to one moment so memorable it freezes in time.

It's often a mistake.

There is Jeremy Giambi electing not to slide. There is Nelson Cruz misplaying a David Freese line drive. If you want to go all ESPN Classic, there's always Bill Buckner, of course. Pick your favorite or least-favorite team. You can probably rattle off a list.

Wednesday's 9-4 Los Angeles Dodgers loss at Chase Field -- keeping them frustratingly stuck on the brink of clinching the NL West -- didn't feel much like a playoff game. For one thing, the stadium was about two-thirds full and one of the teams had virtually nothing at stake.

But it illustrated the peril of the ill-timed mistake twice, in fact -- once by a player, the other by an umpire.

A year from now, the Dodgers wouldn't have had to worry about Jim Joyce blowing a call when he called out Michael Young after he slid into home in the sixth inning. Don Mattingly could have challenged it, the umpires would have reviewed it and -- if they trusted the replay everyone else saw -- they would have reversed it.

Instead, Young was called out, the Diamondbacks retained a 4-3 lead and the game went downhill from there.

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PHOENIX -- You could sense the Los Angeles Dodgers' determination as they desperately tried to crawl that final inch, but their search for the National League West title remains exactly that -- a crawl.

They fought back from a 4-0 deficit to get to within one run, but after some bad breaks, they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-4, at Chase Field on Wednesday night. Their magic number remained stuck on two. They only have one more chance, Thursday afternoon, to finish it off in the tidiest manner, against the team they're trying to eliminate.

For now, the champagne stayed neatly tucked away in the visiting clubhouse, the plastic sheeting stored nearby.

The Dodgers, hot as lava from late June through early September, have lost 10 of their past 14 games with the prize so close.

Wednesday they had a turn of misfortune at a bad time. Michael Young appeared to get his hand on home plate ahead of Miguel Montero's tag in the sixth inning, but umpire Jim Joyce, running toward the plate from his first-base position, called him out.

Adrian Gonzalez, who had hit the double that sent Young home, was so upset, he was ejected by second-base umpire Andy Fletcher. Gonzalez is a laid-back sort and it was only the third ejection of his career. It proved costly because, after that, the Dodgers' only power bats were Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig.

Arizona scored five eighth-inning runs off Ronald Belisario and Peter Moylan to keep the Dodgers stuck an inch from the finish line.

The game was televised by ESPN and the first four innings gave viewers in other cities a pretty good summation of everything Puig. He was as exciting as ever, both when he got picked off second base following his leadoff double and when his powerful arm intimidated Montero from trying to score in the third inning.

The Dodgers' biggest worry with Puig is that he'll get angry or upset and lose focus at a critical moment. After he had been picked off, he seemed in a bit of a fog when Adam Eaton grounded a hit to right field. Puig took his time and Eaton hustled his way to second for a double. It wouldn't have mattered where he was in the end, because Paul Goldschmidt -- who else? -- homered to give Arizona a 2-0 lead.

Puig hit a 442-foot home run to spark the Dodgers' offense to life in the fourth inning. It always seems to be the good and the bad with Puig, in this case in roughly equal measure.

The Dodgers had to fight to get out of the hole the Diamondbacks dug them against spot starter Stephen Fife, who was lifted in the third inning having given up four runs and six hits. The Dodgers gave Fife the start to afford ace Clayton Kershaw extra rest in anticipation of a deep run in the playoffs.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the major leagues in attendance, which is another way of saying they're back to being the Dodgers.

With seven home dates left, they have had more than 3.37 million fans buy tickets to their games. Since their dramatic uptick launched in June, those fans have provided some of the most raucous environments in baseball, helping to fuel dramatic victories.

So, yeah, the Dodgers would love to celebrate their first division crown in four seasons on their home turf this weekend, with 50,000 fans enjoying it with them, but it might take one more dramatic late surge to pull that off.

Wednesday's 4-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks guaranteed the earliest the Dodgers could clinch would be Sunday, and even that is a long shot.

The Dodgers' magic number is six. The second-place Diamondbacks don't play Thursday, and when they resume, they're taking on the Colorado Rockies, who have lost six of their past nine. The Dodgers are playing the San Francisco Giants, which is not exactly a herculean task in 2013, but the first two pitching matchups are good ones: Zack Greinke versus Matt Cain and Clayton Kershaw versus Madison Bumgarner.

If it doesn't happen by Sunday, it's sure to happen on the road. The Dodgers embark on a 10-game trip Monday in Arizona.

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis acknowledged that celebrating at home would be sweeter than clinching somewhere else, where the party would be respectfully confined to the clubhouse.

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LOS ANGELES -- Three days after the Dodgers' medical staff shut down Matt Kemp's rehab "indefinitely," because of hamstring tightness, manager Don Mattingly says he feels like Kemp still has time to join the Dodgers in time for the postseason.

"I'm starting to feel that way," Mattingly said. "It sounds like he's feeling good, so right now it's pretty positive."

Mattingly said medical reports of Kemp's progress have improved. Kemp remains in Arizona playing simulated games -- according to Mattingly, he hit four home runs in one of them Tuesday -- but the Dodgers are hoping Kemp can be back within the next 10 days or so. That way, they could evaluate whether he can help them in the playoffs.

"It's hard to judge on two games," Mattingly said. "It'd be nice to see 10-12 games."

Though Kemp is hitting, he has yet to run the bases or test his hamstring in any aggressive running program.

Here are lineups for Tuesday's game, with the Dodgers looking to take two more games off their magic number (eight):

Arizona

1. Willie Bloomquist LF
2. Adam Eaton CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Martin Prado 2B
5. Miguel Montero C
6. Matt Davidson 3B
7. Gerardo Parra RF
8. Didi Gregorius SS
9. Trevor Cahill RHP

Dodgers

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

LOS ANGELES -- He won't say it publicly, but one of manager Don Mattingly's biggest challenges the next three weeks is balancing how much he rests his aching players with pushing for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The issue arose Sunday when Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw told reporters in Cincinnati he still has his sights on securing the best record in the National League. With 20 games left, the Dodgers trail the Atlanta Braves by two games for that distinction.

Does it matter? Apparently not a great deal to Mattingly, who has already inserted highly unpredictable starter Edinson Volquez in his rotation for at least two turns and rested most of his starters last week in a series in Colorado. Mattingly said it "would be nice" to secure home field -- hardly a resounding rallying cry.

"Basically, you've got to win games everywhere," Mattingly said.

And, if you look at the numbers, you really can't argue. ESPN Stats & Info's Mark Simon dug into the numbers:

• Since the 2-2-1 format was adopted in the division series in 1998, teams with home-field advantage have won 30 of the 60 series.

• Since the current format was adopted in the championship series in 1996, teams with home-field advantage have won 17 of the 34 series.

Not a math whiz here, but it looks like teams have got about a 50-50 shot of winning no matter where they play.

There are exceptions, though. If the Dodgers should play the Braves in the second round and it were to go seven games, they would be better off playing four of those at home.

Atlanta, with its powerful, but strikeout-prone, lineup, has played at a .718 rate at home and a .479 rate on the road. Dodger Stadium is one of the best pitchers' parks in baseball. Turner Field has much friendlier home run fences.

Here are lineups for Monday's game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, as the Dodgers look to trim their magic number for clinching to eight:

Arizona

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. Randall Delgado RHP

Dodgers

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Andre Ethier CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Mark Ellis 2B
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Ricky Nolasco RHP