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ATLANTA -- The Dodgers are riding a rising blue tide into their first playoff series in four years and we’re not just talking about their fans. The experts are wholeheartedly on board, too, and remained so with full knowledge the Dodgers will be without Matt Kemp for the postseason and are not yet sure what they may get out of Andre Ethier against the Atlanta Braves.

ESPN asked its panel of experts to predict each of the playoff series and the Dodgers come out looking like heavy road favorites. You had to scroll down a few screens to get to the first voter who picked Atlanta, ESPN TV reporter Pedro Gomez. In all, 26 of ESPN’s crew took the Dodgers and six took the Braves.

Seems a bit strange at first glance, considering Atlanta went 5-2 against the Dodgers this year and pretty much dominated its division all season. The Dodgers were in last place going into July, took off like a bottle rocket in July and August and then settled into a blah September.

It’s pretty easy to see what makes them tick: feeling good. Before June 22, the Day the Season Changed, the Dodgers used the disabled list 20 times. After that, they used it five times. Toward the end of September, the injuries started cropping up again, like weeds you thought you’d pulled.

When they were unhealthy, they were bad. When they were healthy, they were great. When they were moderately healthy, they were mediocre.

By the way, the Braves -- who also had the luxury of a massive division lead -- didn’t exactly sail through September either, losing 13 of 24. So, momentum seems to be a wash.

We could get a good read on the Dodgers’ health in Game 2. If Hanley Ramirez, who has been on the on-again, off-again playing regime for weeks because of an irritated nerve in his back, plays Friday, that is good news for the Dodgers. It might mean they’ll have their frontline guys all series.

Ramirez had a strained hamstring when the Braves and Dodgers met in May.

“I feel good,” Ramirez said Sunday. “I think what we’ve been doing -- one game, one off -- it’s been helping me a lot. Now it’s about to get real.”

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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 -- The book closed Saturday on another stellar regular season for Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke.

He was the tough-luck loser in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the visiting Colorado Rockies, but Greinke still finished with a 15-4 record and 2.63 ERA for the NL West champions.

What lies ahead is his second career trip into the postseason. Greinke said he’s satisfied with how he’s pitching.

“It could be worse, that’s for sure,” he said.

Greinke said the only thing that separated this regular season from his AL Cy Young year of 2009 was his consistency. He went 16-8 that year with a 2.16 ERA for a Kansas City Royals team that finished last in the AL Central with a 65-97 record.

“I was more consistent that year and didn’t have any spots where I pitched bad,” he said. “Like this year, there was about a month where it was ugly.”

Greinke then gestured to his left, to the locker stall belonging to left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who is likely to win the NL Cy Young after leading the majors with a 1.83 ERA and the NL with 232 strikeouts.

“Kersh had no bad stretches,” Greinke said. “That’s what you’ve got to do to have a good year like that.”

Despite the late-season injuries that have popped up among his positional players, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he feels confident heading into Thursday’s opener of the NL Division Series -- at the St. Louis Cardinals or Atlanta Braves -- knowing he has the 1-2 punch that can wreak havoc in a playoff series.

“When those guys take the ball, you feel like you’re going to win,” Mattingly said. “It’s pretty much quality start after quality start.”

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.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Clayton Kershaw playfully took ground balls at shortstop off the bat of third-base coach Tim Wallach during batting practice Wednesday afternoon at AT&T Park.

It was a bit awkward since he's a left-handed thrower, of course, but Kershaw scooped several balls up the middle and shoveled to second using his glove. He went into the hole, spun and made a nice, firm throw on the money to Dee Gordon.

It gave the impression that, should every other player on the Los Angeles Dodgers' roster capable of playing shortstop go down, he could probably do it.

Why not? There's very little Kershaw hasn't accomplished for the Dodgers in keeping other teams from scoring this season. He leads the major leagues in ERA (1.88), WHIP (.92) and ERA+. He leads the National League with 224 strikeouts, fewer than only Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer in the major leagues.

He's a 25-year-old Cy Young winner who, by virtually all measures, is having his finest season. After he polishes off his regular season with Friday night's start at Dodger Stadium against the Colorado Rockies, he figures to become only the third pitcher since 2000 to finish a season with a sub-2.00 ERA, joining Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez.

He will be only the second Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher to do it. The other, of course, was the man he's so often compared to, Sandy Koufax, who did it four times.

Yet, at 15-9, Kershaw is tied for 10th in the majors in wins going into Thursday's games. He is tied for 22nd in winning percentage.

In recent seasons, Cy Young voters have become astute enough to look beyond wins in selecting the league's best pitcher, so Kershaw stands little chance of missing out on his second Cy Young Award in three seasons. The San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum won the award in 2009 going 15-7. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners won it in 2010 at 13-12.

But does that go far enough?

There has been a movement among some statistically-minded fans, led by MLB Network anchor Brian Kenny, to get rid of the win as an official statistic. Many of those people also believe Kershaw should be the league MVP. On Twitter, the campaign trends under #killthewin. Kershaw could be the poster child for the movement, but neither he nor fellow Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, the Dodgers’ 1-A, is in favor of such a drastic move.

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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 -- 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.

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.

The best pitcher in the Japanese league has already lured both Southern California teams across the Pacific.

The Dodgers, like the Angels, have scouted Japanese right-handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, according to a source. Tanaka is 21-0 with a 1.24 ERA for the Rakuten Eagles and he could benefit from what is a mediocre crop of free-agent pitchers on the market this fall.

The Dodgers signed a 19-year-old Japanese prospect, Takumi Numata, to a minor-league deal Monday. They likely scouted Tanaka while they were there.

The Dodgers will go into 2014 with Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu in their rotation, but they have some uncertainty beyond that. Ricky Nolasco will be a free agent and Chad Billingsley and Josh Beckett are coming off serious injuries.

Speculation is that teams could have to pay $25 million or more to Tanaka’s team just to win the right to negotiate with him. The Dodgers paid Ryu’s Korean team $26 million before signing him to a six-year, $36 million deal in December.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCORING

Juan Uribe had a nice week on Monday.

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

Overall, Uribe batted .348 with a 1.332 OPS.

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

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

Grade: C

DEFENSE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grade: C-

DECISION-MAKING

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

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

Grade: B

CHEMISTRY TEST

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

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

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

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

Grade: B

STATE OF CONTENTION

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

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

Grade: A-

DENVER -- Just as the Los Angeles Dodgers envisioned when they agreed to pay Zack Greinke all that money back in December, he is leading the league in one category and Clayton Kershaw is leading it in another. The only oddity is that Greinke leads the NL in batting average and Kershaw leads it in RBIs.

OK, so they also are all over the pitching leaderboards, but the hitting part has been the pleasant surprise. They knew both pitchers were good athletes who could handle the bat, but they didn’t expect actual production, sometimes even game-changing production.

After his single (and stolen base) in Sunday’s game, Greinke is batting a league-high .347. Kershaw swatted a pair of singles in the Dodgers’ 10-8 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday, including a key two-RBI hit, and he has 10 RBIs this season, most in the league, while batting .176.

Hitting has become a theme for Dodgers pitchers this year. Even the new guy, Edinson Volquez -- who will start Wednesday’s game, the team announced -- is among 14 NL pitchers with a home run. Hyun-Jin Ryu is hitting a more-than-respectable .200 (with a triple!).

Dodgers pitchers collectively are batting .177. Outfielder Roger Berardina of the Philadelphia Phillies has managed to get 197 at-bats this year while hitting .173.

They spend most of their time consulting pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, but apparently they’ve spent a little time in the cage with Mark McGwire as well.

“Ryu and Greinke rake, so I’m just trying to keep up,” Kershaw said. “Obviously, Greinke’s in another world right now. As long as guys are on base and we’re getting some runs in and moving that lineup over, just keep going. Who knows how long it’ll last.”

Kershaw was feeling pretty good after he gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning, but it was an uncharacteristically poor day for him on the mound. He gave it right back the next half-inning. He allowed a career-high 11 hits though he picked up his 14th win.

In his previous start, Kershaw was pulled in the sixth inning and, even in his start before that, when he pitched eight scoreless innings in Miami, manager Don Mattingly thought he was a little antsy and on edge.

Kershaw (14-8) said he hasn’t felt any different lately and he was probably due to be bailed out by the offense for once, given the nearly criminal lack of run support he has gotten all season. He still leads the majors with a 1.89 ERA. And this is Coors Field we’re talking about.

“It’s always good to get some hits, especially if you’re not going to pitch good,” Kershaw said.

DENVER – The Dodgers were essentially overpowered by the pitcher they were facing, a towering right-hander named Andrew Cashner, who was pumping 98, 99 and even 100-mph fastballs past their hitters as late as the seventh inning.

Not a lot you can do in a situation like that, just hold on and hope you’re in striking distance when he gets tired.

Thanks to Chris Capuano, the Dodgers were. And thanks to Zack Greinke, they were the next day, too, winning essentially the same game -- by the same 2-1 score.

If anyone doubted the Dodgers' pitching was taking over a few weeks ago, nobody doubts it now. The Dodgers had the best pitching in the majors in August. In fact, three of their starters, Clayton Kershaw, Greinke and Ricky Nolasco, had ERAs in the top five in the National League.

The last Dodger team to pitch that well in a month did so in April of 1981, a World Series year.

Things are trending up, in other words. To have suggested the Dodgers would win 100 games in April, May, June or even July would have been moronic. To suggest it now seems like a pretty good reading of the winds. The Dodgers need to go 19-7 to win 100. Amazing.

SCORING

Yasiel Puig continues to be impossible to ignore.

Bench him and it only seems to stoke his desire. After his first disciplinary benching, he hit the decisive home run. After his second, last Wednesday, he came back to go 4-for-5 with two stolen bases in the next game.

Puig was cold, but now he’s not any more. Because he’s such a free swinger and has such great strength and hand-eye coordination, his streaks don’t follow normal trends. It reminds me of former AL MVP Vladimir Guerrero. An advance scout said he never put Guerrero in the “cold” category, because the minute he did, Guerrero would hit two home runs and go 3-for-5 and the scout looked bad.

Puig has multi-hit games in five of his last eight games. He is batting .596, best in the majors, when he swings at the first pitch. That raises the question: So why not bounce a slider or throw a fastball above the neck on every first pitch? Because he’s adjusting. Remember when he never walked? Now he has a .409 on-base percentage.

Other than Puig’s contributions, one big night from Adrian Gonzalez and some clutch hits from Mark Ellis, it was a ho-hum week for the Dodgers' offense. The Dodgers averaged 4.1 runs per game, but nine of those came in one game against San Diego, much of it at the expense of one reliever, Anthony Bass.

But give the Dodgers credit. They score according to the game, somehow finding ways to scrape runs across to support their pitchers, at least pitchers not named Clayton Kershaw.

Grade: B-

DEFENSE

Kenley Jansen isn’t getting enough publicity. If he keeps this trend up for another 17 or 18 years, other teams are going to give him a farewell tour like they did for Mariano Rivera. Rivera is the only comparison for Jansen that is apt at the moment, even if it is essentially absurd.

Confining the discussion to 2013, is there a more unhittable closer in baseball? Jansen gives teams no hope of late-inning heroics. He has nailed his last 17 save chances and, over that time, had a 1.03 ERA with 41 strikeouts (in 17 games). For his career, batters are hitting .155 against him.

It’s only Sept. 2, but Greinke’s first season has exceeded even the expectations raised by his then-record, $147 million contract. He is pitching at his 2009 level, though through slightly different means. Greinke’s ERA has gone done in three consecutive seasons, so the Dodgers can feel good about getting him in the middle of his prime.

Once again, Kershaw was the only Dodgers pitcher to take a loss and he’s not just a virtual lock to win the Cy Young, but he’s getting talked up for the league MVP trophy. Go figure. The Dodgers need to start making life a little easier on their ace, so he doesn’t have to throw a shutout to get a win.

Hanley Ramirez is showing signs of reverting to the way he played shortstop last year, reacting slowly to ground balls and getting his footwork tied up, sometimes sailing his throws. The Dodgers should, and probably will, make Ramirez's defense a point of emphasis in the final month.

Grade: A-

DECISION-MAKING

Should we just trust Ned Colletti and Don Mattingly and assume that Michael Young’s leadership skills and still-useable bat will make up for the fact he is going to take playing time away from another player who puts up at least comparable offensive numbers and plays better defense?

How is Young an upgrade, particularly since he costs the Dodgers $1 million and a young pitcher who might one day be a useful big-league arm?

It seems the Dodgers’ early-season trauma -- a seemingly endless string of injuries -- has pushed them into a cautious footing as they begin to eye a post-season run. They’ve begun to hoard depth. Young, like Carlos Marmol, Brian Wilson and Edinson Volquez, is viewed as a more-capable injury replacement than any of the players the Dodgers have at Triple-A.

So there’s that.

It will be interesting to see how the veterans blend into the fabric of the team over the next month, as the Dodgers make evaluations for their 25-man playoff roster.

Grade: B-

CHEMISTRY TEST

The Dodgers clubhouse has become a frat house. Wilson and Juan Uribe, longtime teammates, yell at each other across the room, usually on the topic of each others’ wardrobes. There’s no telling what dugout shenanigans Uribe, Puig and Ramirez will get into.

They seem to have the ability to snap into business mode at about 7 p.m., so nobody’s really too worried about the joking around. It has been interesting to see how quickly Wilson has gotten comfortable, considering all the years he pitched for the team the Dodgers like least.

Young, like Uribe, Wilson, Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker, is another World Series veteran, one more reason the Dodgers thought he would be a useful addition. That’s their desired destination, after all, so why not invite in players who know what it's like to get there?

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

It’s getting close.

In fact, the Dodgers have put themselves in position where, even if something goes terribly wrong in this final month, they should back into the playoffs.

Their magic number is 16 with 26 games left. There is a very good chance the Dodgers will clinch some time during a four-game series at Arizona that starts Sept. 16. To have the division in hand so early would allow the Dodgers to align their pitching perfectly for October.

Remember when the 2005 Chicago White Sox were able to rest their starting pitchers and they all came out throwing 95 mph and up, just strong-armed their way to the World Series title? Well, the Dodgers could set up a similar scenario, only with much more accomplished pitchers.

Grade: A-

LOS ANGELES -- To understand just how well Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke has pitched lately, turn the calendar back to 2009, when he won the American League Cy Young Award with the Kansas City Royals.

Greinke went 16-8 with a major league-leading 2.16 ERA that season, beating out Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay, CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez for the honors.

Greinke said he’s pitching even better lately.

Few could argue after watching Greinke breeze through seven innings Sunday against the San Diego Padres, allowing one run and two hits while striking out seven in the 2-1 victory.

Greinke won his sixth consecutive decision to improve to 14-3 and trimmed his ERA to 2.78. It marked the fourth time this season that he has allowed two hits or less while working at least seven innings.

Greinke was asked after the game if he’s pitching better than he did in 2009. When it comes to throwing the ball where he wants, definitely, he said.

“It’s probably the best location I’ve had for a long period of time,” he said.

Greinke began Sunday’s game by breaking the bat of leadoff hitter Will Venable. He then broke Alexi Amarista’s bat on a groundout to second. He retired the first seven hitters before experiencing his only hiccup, giving up two walks and an RBI single in the third inning.

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LOS ANGELES -- Five-tool players are a hot commodity in the major leagues. Zack Greinke is forming his own category. Call it a four-tool pitcher.

Greinke continued his masterful pitching this season with seven solid innings Sunday against the visiting San Diego Padres, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory and a series sweep.

His contributions didn’t end there, however.

Greinke also continues to see the ball well at the plate and was one of the few Dodgers to hit San Diego starter Tyson Ross. He collected a solid single up the middle and flew out to deep left-center, boosting his batting average to .347.

And if that wasn’t enough, Greinke also stole second with a head-first slide in the fifth inning, becoming the first L.A. pitcher to steal two bases in a season since Orel Hershiser in 1987.

The fourth tool? Greinke hasn't committed a fielding error in more than three years.

Greinke, who has won his past six starts to improve to 14-3, certainly didn’t lead the Dodgers by himself Sunday.
Yasiel Puig blasted his 14th homer of the season to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth and Mark Ellis delivered a clutch two-out single in the third to tie the score.

Paco Rodriguez came out of the bullpen with the tying run on third and one out in the eighth and struck out leadoff hitter Will Venable before getting pinch hitter Chris Denorfia to ground out to the mound.

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