Dodgers’ Numbers Game: 3 1/2 Behind, 19 for Martinez : Baseball: Five-run sixth inning leads to 7-2 victory over Padres. Margin is smallest since May 5.

The Dodgers were acting acting awfully chummy Thursday night with those San Diego Padres. They complimented the Padres about their style of play. They talked about all of their talent. They even said nice things about their brown and orange uniforms.

The Dodgers, after beating the Padres, 7-2, in front of a crowd of 25,277 at Dodger Stadium, know full and well how important it is to maintain good relations with their neighbors from the South.

With the Dodgers’ victory, their sixth in eight games, and Cincinnati’s loss to the Houston Astros, the Dodgers find themselves only 3 1/2 games behind the Reds.

It’s the closest the Dodgers have been to the Reds since May 5, and considering the way the Reds are staggering--losing five of their past seven--maybe it’s not such a crazy notion that they can catch them with two weeks remaining.

But there’s a catch. The Dodgers don’t play the Reds again this season, so even if they went undefeated, it still might not be good enough.

That’s where the Padres come in.

San Diego has seven games left against the Reds, including a four-game series starting today at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“I think we’ve got a whole lot of new friends,” Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said. “It’s incredible, isn’t it? I kept saying for the Reds to lose it now, they’d have to have a complete collapse.

“But my gosh, it’s happening.”

It was on this day, exactly 26 years ago, when the Philadelphia Phillies owned a six-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals with 10 games to play. The Phillies never won another game.

In most recent times, it was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987 who had a 3 1/2-game lead with seven games remaining, and lost all seven, allowing the Detroit Tigers to win the American League East.

And now, how about the Dodgers, who were 13 1/2 games two months ago?

It started Thursday night with Alfredo Griffin, who entered the game batting .114 during the pennant stretch this month.

His two-run triple in the second gave the the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Considering that the Dodgers have blown seven games this season with leads of at least four runs, you can imagine just how Manager Tommy Lasorda felt. He was still grumbling about the Dodgers’ latest disaster Wednesday, when their 4-0 lead against the Padres turned into a 9-4 defeat.

But along came the sixth inning, with more runs coming from the most unlikely of places. There was Lenny Harris leading off iwth a double, Stan Javier following with a bunt single down the third-base line. Kal Daniels driving in one run with a sacrifice fly. Murray walking.

Kirk Gibson, taking full advantage of the opportunity, hit a single to left fieeld, scoring Javier, and the rout was on. Mike Scioscia followed with a two-run double, and two batters later, Ramon Martinez, who won his 19th game, even joined in the fun, lining a single into left field.

Lasorda couldn’t believe his eyes. Dodgers 7, Padres 0. Oh, what a feeling of euphoria.

Then, it happened. He thought of the game of Sept. 4 when the Dodgers were beating the Houston Astros by the same score, and wound up losing, 10-8. He thought of the four games since July alone in which the Dodgers had blown four-run leads, and lost. And yes, he thought of the infamous night of Aug. 21, when an 11-3 ninth-inning lead against the Philadelphia Phillies turned into a 12-11 loss.

But a funny thing happened on this night.

The Dodgers hung on for the victory, even if the Padres did ruin the shutout for Martinez (19-8) when Benito Santiago hit a two-run homer in the ninth.

Dodger Notes

The Dodgers received some good news Thursday when Orel Hershiser threw off the mound for the first time since April 27 when he underwent rotator-cuff surgery. Hershiser threw lightly during the stint, lasting 35 pitches. He said that he didn’t feel any pain or complications, and considered it another major step in his comeback attempt. . . . Dodger first baseman Eddie Murray is 11 RBIs shy of becoming the 14th player in major league history to obtain 100 RBIs in a season in each league. The others: Richie Allen, Bobby Bonds, Jeff Burroughs, Joe Carter, Sam Crawford, Frank Howard, Lee May, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson, Ken Singleton, Rusty Staub, Dick Stewart and Richie Zisk.

Kirk Gibson, who irritated the Dodgers by showing up 15 minutes before the game last Friday in Cincinnati, wasn’t even on the bench during most of the Dodger-Padre game Wednesday. He instead spent the game in the Dodger bullpen. However, Gibson was in the lineup Thursday, his first start since Sept. 12. . . . Pitcher Mike Hartley, who was scheduled to start Saturday, said that he likely will be scratched for the second consecutive start with a pulled rib cage muscle. Tim Crews is expected to take his place. . . . The Dodgers’ game Sunday against the Giants has been announced as a sellout. The Dodgers’ final three games of the season against the Padres on Oct.1-3 at Dodger Stadium have been changed to 7:05 p.m. starts.

The Padres claim to have found the culprit who lynched a doll resembling outfielder Tony Gwynn two weeks ago. Padre President Dick Freeman said that a ground crew member confessed to the act Thursday, after feeling guilty over the trouble it caused. . . . Jack McKeon, Padre vice president for baseball operations, has prepared an elaborate speech and will address his precarious position at noon today in a meeting with Padre chairman Tom Werner. McKeon, sources said Thursday, plans to leave the organizational meeting knowing whether the Padre ownership will retain him, or fire him once they find a successor.

Bip Roberts, Padre third baseman/outfielder, has a 10-game hitting streak but didn’t play Thursday. Roberts is batting .375 (18 for 48) during the streak. He has raised his batting average to .308, just .001 shy of Gwynn’s team-leading batting average. Gwynn has led the team in hitting every year since 1983. . . . The Padres have their eye on Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder R.J. Reynolds, who will be eligible for free-agency at the end of the season.