Dodgers Win, Switch Focus to Colorado : Baseball: Nomo unimpressive, but L.A. pulls out 6-2 victory to remain half a game behind NL West leaders.

Bring on the Colorado Rockies.

The Dodgers set the stage for their three-game showdown series against the Rockies that should decide the National League West pennant race by beating the San Diego Padres, 6-2, Sunday before a paid 50,135 at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s put up or shut up,” Dodger shortstop Delino DeShields said. “This is what it’s all about.”

The Dodgers, who have won seven of 10 games from Colorado this season, trail the Rockies by half a game and lead the Houston Astros by 1 1/2 games in the wild-card race.

“This is the position we wanted to be in,” said Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, who drilled his 31st homer of the season on a 448-foot shot that carried three-quarters of the way into the left-field bleachers in the sixth inning as the Dodgers won their third in a row.

Although the Rockies have only been in existence for three seasons, there’s no love lost between the Dodgers and the Rockies.

“Things have been blown out in the press a little bit, but that’s good, that’s what makes it fun,” Piazza said. “I remember when we had that brawl a couple of years ago, [Colorado Manager Don Baylor] was the guy who pulled me off. I thought I was a little kid again because he picked me up with one hand and said, ‘That’s enough.’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’ ”

Dodger first baseman Eric Karros, whose two-run, two-out single in the third inning broke a 1-1 tie, thinks too much is made of the Rockies’ expansion status.

“I think, more than anything, the thing that I get tired of hearing is this expansion garbage,” Karros said. “They’re not an expansion ballclub. If you go man for man down that starting lineup they’ve got just as much experience, if not more, than what we’ve got on our team.

“They keep talking about how they’re an expansion ballclub and this is only their third year. Give that some rest. Larry Walker, [Andres] Galarraga, Walt Weiss, [Bret] Saberhagen, [Dante] Bichette--I’m sorry that’s not an expansion ballclub. We’re the club that’s got all the rookies.

“I don’t know if it’s come from the players, although I’ve heard some of the guys say that ‘We’re only in our third year.’ It seems like it’s their three-year history vs. the Dodgers, and they shouldn’t even be where they are. They’re making themselves out to be more of an underdog or an overachieving team than they really are.

“They’re at the top right now, and I’m sure that if things don’t work out it’s going to be, ‘It’s our third year, we’re an expansion club.’ ”

The Dodgers, who had considered saving starter Hideo Nomo for the series with the Rockies, decided to use him Sunday, and it turned out to be a wise decision.

If Nomo had faced the Rockies with what he had Sunday, he might have been in real trouble.

As it was, Nomo (12-6) won but lasted barely five innings, giving up two runs on three hits. The league strikeout leader, Nomo registered only two. He didn’t have much control and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch in the first inning.

Nomo, who made 90 pitches, struggled, working the count to three and two five times.

But he hit better than he pitched, singling in a run to tie it at 1-1 in the third inning.

“I can’t explain it,” Piazza said of Nomo. “He really didn’t have much velocity. I think he got in a lot of deep counts and made a couple of mistakes. But Tommy had faith in the bullpen.”

Relievers John Cummings, Antonio Osuna, Mark Guthrie and closer Todd Worrell combined to shut out the Padres on four hits over the final four innings.

Osuna, who entered the game in the sixth inning after Cummings was hit in the left leg by Scott Livingstone’s line drive, struck out the first three batters he faced and finished with four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings without giving up a hit.

Worrell struck out two of the four hitters he faced in the ninth inning as the Dodgers moved a season-high 10 games over .500.

* ROCKIES DEFEAT GIANTS

Colorado kept its half-game lead over the Dodgers with a 3-1 victory. C9

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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: 515

H: 188

AVG: .365

(Sunday: 1 for 3)

*

Player: Piazza

AB: 415

H: 146

AVG: .352

(Sunday: 1 for 2)