Giant Magic Makes Dust of Dodgers

The Dodgers will be beginning vacation next week when the San Francisco Giants return to work.

The Dodgers were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention Wednesday night, boosting the Giants’ already high spirits after a 4-0 victory before 44,232 at Dodger Stadium.

The National League West champions are preparing for the division series, overcoming the Dodgers’ seemingly endless resources and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ formidable pitching tandem in accomplishing a major goal.

“If I was to give us a grade, it would be an A-plus,” right fielder Ellis Burks said. “It’s been a magical season.

“It’s been a thrill for all of the players. The total package has been phenomenal.”

But the Giants haven’t completed their to-do list.

Home-field advantage throughout the playoffs currently tops their ambitious agenda, and the Giants said they won’t be satisfied even if that plateau is reached.

The Giants hope to shed their “overachieving” label, proving they can compete with the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees in October’s spotlight.

They’re off to a good start.

“This is just a little taste of what is to come,” reliever Alan Embree said. “I don’t think anyone wants to settle for a division title.

“We’ve got to go out and play. There’s a lot more out there. We just want to go as deep as we can.”

Finishing with the league’s best record might help.

The Giants (94-64) have the majors’ top home record, going 55-26 in their first season at Pacific Bell Park. They finish the regular season this weekend against the Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark.

San Francisco and Atlanta, which also has clinched a playoff berth, are tied for the best record. The Central-champion St. Louis Cardinals are a game behind.

Teams cannot be seeded until the East title and wild-card entry are determined between the Braves and New York Mets, who clinched a berth and eliminated the Dodgers with a 6-2 victory Wednesday over the Braves at Shea Stadium.

Against the league’s playoff-bound teams, the Giants are 8-2 at Pacific Bell Park--5-11 on the road. The Giants would prefer to leave their hearts and everything else in San Francisco for as much of the postseason as possible.

“That’s all were really talking about now,” said first baseman J.T. Snow of the Giants, who played before 81 sellout crowds. “We want to get [home-field advantage] in the worst way.”

Several Giant players believe home-field advantage will be the difference between a long playoff run and a short trip.

“Everyone knows we’re really comfortable [at Pacific Bell Park] and we play really well [there],” pitcher Mark Gardner said. “If we could get it that would be a pretty good feather in our cap. You look for any kind of edge you can get, and it would be a pretty good edge.”

Many in the NL West figure the Giants will achieve that goal too because of what they’ve done to this point.

The Dodgers have a $98 million payroll and the Diamondbacks have pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.

The Giants have their second division title since 1997.

“We didn’t lose [the division]; they took it from us,” said Schilling. “They did what they needed to do.”

Diamondback third baseman Matt Williams said the Giants are simply better than their division counterparts.

“They have a wonderful team,” Williams said. “Their starting pitching is fantastic, they have a beautiful lineup and they have played very well.”

That was manager Dusty Baker’s plan all along.

“You couldn’t write a better script,” Baker said. “How many times do you have a chance to live a dream?”

And the Giants have even bigger dreams now.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The NL playoff teams are set as the Mets won Wednesday to clinch the wild-card berth. The teams: Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco and New York. The Mets will open at either St. Louis or San Francisco.