Dodgers Stake Claim in West

The pennant race arrived at Dodger Stadium Friday night, almost imperceptibly at first.

A little noise, a few whistles, finally a healthy round of cheering. Fans elbowed their neighbors, pointing to the scoreboard, and each poke in the stomach brought forth another cheer.

The scoreboard read: Giants 9, Diamondbacks 2, fifth inning. The fans cheered without prompting, without a video command to make noise, for they knew that if the Arizona Diamondbacks lost, and if the Dodgers won, first place would belong to the home team.

A few innings later, it did. The Diamondbacks lost, 9-5. And the Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2, climbing back into first place in the National League West for the first time since May 20.

“That has a nice ring to it,” outfielder Shawn Green said.

And, when Gary Sheffield caught that last out, and the scoreboard displayed the latest standings, none among the crowd of 40,114 needed to be prodded to cheer. The race is on.

“That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard the crowd here,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “The fans are starting to believe now. They had every right to boo us the last two years. Now that we’re playing well, they’re giving it back to us in a good way.”

There were so many to cheer for. There was Green, who gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead with his sixth home run in seven games. There was Sheffield, who collected three hits. There was Lo Duca, who scored an insurance run by alertly tagging from third base when Colorado’s shortstop and left fielder bumped each other. There was Dave Hansen, who bruised his ribs after colliding with a railing while catching a foul ball.

And there was Terry Adams, the setup man moved into the rotation out of injury-induced desperation. He held the Rockies to two runs over seven innings, winning for the fifth time in his past seven starts.

Adams has pitched into the sixth inning in each of those starts, consistency admirable for any starter and especially so for one who as recently as June considered two innings a long outing.

“Terry Adams is obviously becoming very comfortable as a starter,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said.

Matt Herges and Jeff Shaw each followed Adams with a scoreless inning, Shaw earning his league-leading 31st save.

While the Dodgers moved into first place and the Rockies sank deeper into last, the game was not without meaning for the Rockies.

How much did the game mean for Colorado? You could put a dollar figure on it: $3.2 million.

The Rockies do not want Pedro Astacio on their roster beyond Tuesday’s trading deadline, and this was Astacio’s last scheduled start before then. If the Rockies cannot find a trading partner, they will be stuck with a $3.2-million bill--$2.2 million for the remainder of Astacio’s salary this season, and $1 million to buy out his $9-million contract option next season.

The ex-Dodger is not a bad guy or a bad pitcher, although his 13 losses tie him for the major league lead. The Rockies wish to rebuild, and so they wish to subtract Astacio’s salary and add prospects.

But no contending team will add salary and subtract prospects unless it believes Astacio (6-13, 5.49 earned-run average) can help win a pennant this season. In his first three starts this month, he completed two, with one shutout. But, in his previous start, the Dodgers torched him for eight runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Another start like that, and the Rockies would be lucky just to lose the salary. A good start, and how about some choice prospects too?

Four batters into the game, Astacio trailed, 3-0. McKay Christensen, who maintained his .500 average with two more hits, singled to start the first inning. One out later, Sheffield singled, and Green followed with his 29th home run of the season.

Astacio pitched effectively if not entirely well thereafter. He pitched six innings, with the Dodgers advancing a runner into scoring position in all but one of those innings, but he did not give up a run after the first.

“I want to stay,” Astacio said. “I like Colorado. It’s a good organization. If anything happens, I understand. It’s a business. I just have to play the game and see what happens.”