Dodgers have a good feeling

HOUSTON -- When the Dodgers left Los Angeles five days ago, the team appeared headed for a long summer and an early off-season.

But when the team charter took off for San Francisco on Thursday, the Dodgers found themselves in the middle of a pennant race.

The difference? Two consecutive series victories, three straight wins over the Houston Astros and a slump by the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, who have lost nine of their last 13.

As a result, the Dodgers begin a three-game series with the Giants today only 1 1/2 games back in the National League West. And if that’s not enough, they’re also expecting to have Nomar Garciaparra and Andruw Jones back in the lineup for the first time since April 25.

“I don’t know how to explain the feeling in here,” reliever Joe Beimel said after the Dodgers rode a brilliant eight-inning effort from right-hander Chad Billingsley and homers by James Loney and Andre Ethier to a 5-2 win over the Astros on Thursday afternoon. “It does feel a lot different. I think we’re playing with maybe a little more sense of urgency.

“The season’s halfway over and we haven’t been real good up to this point and I think everybody realizes that. I hate to say that [guys] are just now starting to feel like we need to win, but at the same time, that might be what it is.”

Whatever it is, it’s working for the Dodgers, who have trimmed two games from Arizona’s lead in the last four days, leaving them closer to first place than at any time since April 7. And Manager Joe Torre feels it too.

“We’ve played these last three games with, I don’t know, a sense of determination,” he said. “Don’t ask me why I feel that. I just have a good feel about the way we’ve gone after it.

“There’s been a lot of animation in that dugout. Which doesn’t hurt.”

Billingsley (8-7) provided some of the excitement Thursday, retiring the first 10 Houston batters and giving up only six hits and a pair of unearned runs to win his fourth straight start.

Loney and Ethier provided the offense, each hitting a homer off Houston starter Brandon Backe (5-9).

For Ethier, the home run was his sixth hit of the four-game series. Loney, who also had an RBI single during a three-run first, finished with two hits for the third time in the series. He also scored twice and drove in two runs.

Blake DeWitt, who started the afternoon with three hits -- and 11 strikeouts -- in his last 10 games, also pitched in with a two-run single, his fourth and fifth RBIs since June 1.

“If we keep playing like this, we should be in good shape,” Loney said. “When you’re winning, it’s great. But you’ve got to keep it up.”

The Dodgers, still three games under .500 at 41-44, are counting on Garciaparra and Jones to help them do just that. Neither was expected back this early, but with Juan Pierre gone at least a month after straining a knee Sunday and Rafael Furcal out at least two more months after undergoing back surgery Thursday, the team is desperate for both offense and veteran leadership. Which is why the Dodgers cut short minor league rehab assignments for Jones and Garciaparra after only three games.

“We’ve talked about the youth and the guys who are learning as they go. But when you’re going to insert a couple of guys who have been around the block a time or two, it gives you a little bit of a settling feeling, yeah,” Torre said.

But, the manager cautioned, there’s a difference between a settling feeling and a winning feeling. The Dodgers may have experienced one over the last week, but they won’t get the other unless they can keep it up over the next three months.

“The standings don’t count until the season’s over,” he said. “What we have to do is just continue to play. Hopefully that will be good enough.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com