Goodwin Is Latest to Feel Pain

These are good times for the surprising Dodgers, who have overcome major injuries and deficiencies to remain in the National League playoff race.

Of course, they’re still experiencing difficulties and did again Friday night in an 11-3 loss to the struggling Colorado Rockies that ended a six-game L.A. winning streak before 47,704 at Coors Field.

Outfielder Tom Goodwin joined five teammates on the disabled list after he strained his right hamstring while running to first base in the fifth inning.

Goodwin, who pulled up before he reached the bag, collapsed in pain and had to be helped onto a cart by team trainers Stan Johnston and Matt Wilson.

The Dodgers put Goodwin on the 15-day disabled list and promoted recently acquired outfielder McKay Christensen from triple-A Las Vegas to take Goodwin’s spot on the 25-man roster.

With Marquis Grissom serving a six-game suspension, Christensen, a former No. 1 Angel draft pick, is expected to start in center field. He is scheduled to join the club today.

“He’s got a pretty good pull of the hamstring,” Manager Jim Tracy said of Goodwin.

“From what [Johnston] told me, I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a good 10 days before we have an idea as to whether it’s going to push itself further [than 15 days]. But the way he went down, there’s no getting around the fact that that was a pretty good pulled hamstring.”

The National League West’s second-place team had other problems.

The Dodgers (54-43) were outhit, 14-6, by the division’s last-place team and had problems in the field, although they were not charged with an error in the series opener.

Third baseman Adrian Beltre and starter Luke Prokopec (6-5) collided near the mound as they tried to field Juan Pierre’s chopper in the third, and Pierre ended up with an infield single.

Beltre committed another mental mistake in the Rockies’ six-run seventh, failing to cover the bag in time on a double steal.

And Alex Ochoa was credited with a run-scoring triple in the inning on a blooper to center in front of Shawn Green after Paul Lo Duca, who moved from catcher to left field in the seventh, did not back up the play swiftly.

“We got the . . . beat out of us--bottom line,” Lo Duca said. “We’re slipping and falling out there . . . just one of those that wasn’t our day. It’s a big loss with Goody going down too.”

Left-hander Brian Bohanon (5-5) pitched seven strong innings and was three for three with two doubles, raising his batting average to .320 and helping the Rockies win for only the fifth time in 28 games.

The portly starter entered the game with a 10.22 earned-run average at Coors Field, but gave up only two earned runs on solo home runs by Mark Grudzielanek and Eric Karros, whose 18 homers here are the most by a visiting player.

Bohanon has four consecutive victories against his former team.

“Tonight is just a game that we got beat, it’s that simple,” Tracy said. “The interesting part of that is that not only did their pitcher do a good job on the mound, he did a good job with the bat also. I’d say he had a pretty good night’s work against us.”

Todd Helton did too.

The all-star first baseman set the tone in the first inning with a two-run, upper-deck homer run to right against Prokopec for his 27th home run--a 467-foot blast and the third third-level homer this season.

Helton added a run-scoring single in the seventh as the Rockies (41-55) sent 10 batters to the plate and broke the game open.

The Dodgers hope that Christensen can provide a spark with the speedy Goodwin sidelined.

Christensen, 25, was acquired July 13 from the Chicago White Sox for a minor league pitcher because the Dodgers lack athletic outfield depth at the top levels of the farm system.

In six games for Las Vegas, the left-handed batter was one for 20. In 75 combined triple-A games, Christensen is batting .259 with seven homers, 25 runs batted in and is 17 for 20 in stolen bases.

“With guys getting hurt, that’s just the way it’s been for this team this year,” left fielder Gary Sheffield said. “And guys just keep stepping up.”

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NL WEST STANDINGS

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W L GB Arizona 55 41 -- Dodgers 54 43 1.5 San Francisco 52 45 3.5

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