Padres Make It a Little Rockier for the Dodgers : Baseball: L.A. fails to gain ground when San Diego stifles early chances and wins, 5-1.

The Dodgers have been worrying about these guys all season, peeking over their shoulders, wondering when the San Diego Padres would make their move.

They were surprised to see the Padres fall out of the race a few weeks ago. No matter. They knew the Padres would play against them as if it were the seventh game of the World Series.

They were left grimacing Thursday night and nodding their heads as if they knew all along, losing, 5-1, to the Padres in front of a paid crowd of 31,243 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers’ only solace was that the division-leading Colorado Rockies also lost, 5-3, to the San Francisco Giants, enabling them to stay 1 1/2 games behind the Rockies with only nine games remaining. Yet, the Dodgers’ loss leaves them with a 71-64 record, only half a game ahead of the idle Houston Astros in the wild-card race.

And if you listen to Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn, the Dodgers have every reason to be concerned when the Rockies stop into town beginning Monday for a three-game series.

“If these guys [the Dodgers] are going to win it,” Gwynn said, “they’re going to have to play great baseball. The Rockies are doing everything they can to win right now.

“They know they can win his thing, and they believe they have the best team in the NL West. The Dodgers are going to see a different team than they saw before, believe me.

“The difference might be that the Rockies have never been in this position before, and the Dodgers have been in this position God knows how many times.

“But I can’t figure out the Dodgers.

“I don’t know if anybody can.”

The Dodgers, who have third-lowest run total in the National League and have scored 47 fewer runs than the Padres, struggled again offensively in this critical home stand. They failed to produce an extra-base hit Thursday, and never advanced a runner past first base after the fifth inning until two were out in the ninth.

In the Dodgers’ three games this week, they have scored only seven runs, batting .211 with two extra-base hits.

“The Padres are a good team, they’ve played us tough all year,” second baseman Delino DeShields said. “It’s that Padre-Dodger thing. They get up to play us whether they’re 20 games down or 20 ahead.”

Certainly, Padre shortstop Andujuar Cedeno was playing as if it meant something. He made three spectacular plays and turned a key inning-ending double play.

“Cedeno looked like Ozzie Smith out there,” DeShields said. “I was looking for him to boot at least two of them.”

Said Manager Tom Lasorda: “He was unbelievable.”

Still, the Dodgers had two early opportunities, but they squandered them both.

Padre starter Andy Ashby (11-10), who yielded nine hits and one unearned run in 8 2/3 innings, found himself in trouble in the third inning.

The Dodgers, trailing 3-1, loaded the bases when Chad Fonville and Mike Piazza hit back-to-back two-out singles, and Eric Karros was hit by a pitch.

That brought up Raul Mondesi, who was frozen by Ashby on a 2-2 breaking ball and struck out.

Mondesi is batting .185 this season with two out and runners in scoring position and .148 with two out and a runner on third base.

The Dodgers came back in the fifth when Brett Butler reached base on a one-out infield single and Fonville dropped a perfect bunt.

This time, it was Piazza at the plate and Karros in the on-deck circle.

No matter. Piazza hit a double-play grounder to Cedeno, and the Padres never gave the Dodgers another chance. San Diego scored two runs in the sixth after starter Tom Candiotti (7-13) was removed for a pinch-hitter in the fifth.

“I hope they didn’t pull me because they want me to come back on Sunday,” said Candiotti, obviously irritated. “That’s not right, because we have to win every game. If they think that was the best move to win the game, then that’s the manager’s decision.”

Melvin Nieves, who tied his career high with three hits, led off the sixth with a homer off reliever Pedro Astacio. The Padres scored another when Steve Finley hit a two-out, run-scoring single off left-handed reliever Mark Guthrie.

“Somehow, I believe it’s supposed to go down to that [Colorado] series with us,” DeShields said. “Maybe it’s supposed to end up that way, just to see who’s the best team.”

* MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Colorado is unable to increase its lead over the Dodgers as the Giants post a 5-3 victory at San Francisco. C6

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Batting Race

A look at how the battle between the Padres’ Tony Gwynn and the Dodgers’ Mike Piazza for the National League batting title is shaping up:

Player: Gwynn

AB: 503

H: 184

AVG: .366

(Thursday: 2 for 5)

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Player: Piazza

AB: 405

H: 144

AVG: .356

(Thursday: 1 for 4)