Dodgers’ stars shine in National League’s 5-1 victory

Reporting from Phoenix — It has been a rough half-season for the Dodgers, who are in bankruptcy off the field and 11 games out of first place on it.

So for the team’s three All-Star representatives, Tuesday’s midsummer classic offered a chance at redemption, an opportunity to burnish the Dodgers’ image. And they took full advantage of it, with outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier combining to go two for three with a walk, a run scored and a run driven in while left-hander Clayton Kershaw contributed a perfect inning to the National League’s 5-1 victory over the American League at Chase Field.

“It was a good day for the Dodgers,” said Kemp, who played six innings in center field, singling and scoring on a fourth-inning home run by most valuable player Prince Fielder. “Whatever happens off the field we can’t really control. Everybody knows we go out there every day and try to play as hard as we can.

“It might not work out the way we want it to, but I think everybody has a positive perspective on what the Dodgers are.”

Now they have a much better perspective on what Kemp, a triple crown contender this year, can be as well. Kemp was invited to participate in Monday’s home run derby and though he didn’t put on much of a show there with two homers, he was impressive Tuesday. So was Ethier, who battled through an eight-pitch at-bat before singling in a run in the fifth inning.

“This was a chance to show that there’s still good, quality baseball being played [in Los Angeles],” said Ethier, who made his All-Star debut just two miles from the house in which he grew up. “There are quality players. And we’re going to find our way again, find our way back to the top of the NL West.”

Ethier’s run-scoring single came against Angels closer Jordan Walden, who had an eventful one-inning outing, giving up two hits and three stolen bases, throwing out a runner at the plate and reaching at least 98 mph on 15 of his 20 pitches.

And that was the easy part. The day and a half before the game was even wilder.

“It’s chaos. There’s so much going on,” the rookie said of his All-Star experience. “You never have any downtime. I didn’t expect that.”

Nor did he expect the swag the All-Stars received, everything from a martini set and PlayStation games to dress shoes and new spikes. In the double-A All-Star game he played in last year, Walden got a backpack.

“And sunglasses,” he said. “I think that was the big thing.”

Walden followed teammate Jered Weaver and the Dodgers’ Kershaw to the mound, but those two had much quieter nights, with each pitching a hitless inning. Weaver, the AL starter, walked Kemp and struck out Carlos Beltran.

“As a kid you never really think about getting here. You just think about making [the majors],” said Kershaw, a first-time All-Star who came on the inning after Fielder’s three-run homer and retired the AL on eight pitches. “I really didn’t have expectations about what this day would be like. But it’s been pretty awesome.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com