Point Of No Return

Well, here they go.

Tonight, the Dodgers begin a 19-game sprint to the finish, still alive in intense National League playoff races and hoping the West Division cooperates.

The third-place club plays division opponents over the rest of its schedule, opening a three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium, with a title or National League wild-card berth within reach.

The Dodgers have six games left against the second-place San Francisco Giants and seven against the leading Arizona Diamondbacks, which leaves their fate squarely up to themselves.

Despite injuries and distractions, the Dodgers trail by only three games in the division race and are 11/2 behind the Giants for the wild-card berth.

The Diamondbacks, Giants and even the Padres won’t make things easy, but Manager Jim Tracy is eager to take his club into the bell lap.

“Our season comes down to these 19 games, and with 19 games we can win whatever we want to win,” he said. “When you go to spring training in February, you hope you can be in a position like this when you get to September.

“You have to feel good about what you’ve accomplished to this point. Is there more that you can accomplish? Certainly there is. But with 19 games left to play, and you’re going to play 13 of the 19 against the two clubs that are in front of you, what more could you ask for?”

Better starting pitching.

The first two tests of a four-man rotation went badly for the Dodgers. The St. Louis Cardinals took extended batting practice against James Baldwin and Chan Ho Park, working on only three days’ rest, in the previous two games of a 12-game, 14-day trip.

Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn believe the uncommon alignment provides the club with its best opportunity to make the playoffs for the first time since 1996, but ...

“We’re going to look at a lot of variables to determine how to proceed,” Tracy said. “We’re not going to do anything that puts any of our pitchers at risk. That’s not what this is about.”

The Diamondbacks and Giants have stuck with typical five-man rotations and pitching consistency is paramount now.

Give the Diamondbacks, with their powerful 1-2 punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, the edge. .

Schilling has won a career-high 20 games, while losing only six, and has a 2.85 earned-run average.

The right-hander has been dominant in three starts against the Dodgers this season, going 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA. He has 30 strikeouts in 25 innings.

Johnson is 18-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 336 strikeouts. In two starts against the Dodgers, the three-time Cy Young winner is 2-0 with 18 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Johnson is scheduled to start Sept. 21 at Dodger Stadium in the second game of a four-game series, and Schilling on Sept. 22.

In the current rotation, neither would start in the clubs’ final regular-season series, Sept. 28-30 at Bank One Ballpark.

However, Diamondback Manager Bob Brenly would consider bringing back Schilling on three days’ rest to pitch the final game if it had playoff implications. The teams have split their first 12 meetings.

Either Schilling or Johnson is expected to win the Cy Young award, and the Dodgers acknowledge they face a formidable task.

“Whenever you face those guys, you know you’re going against one of the best in the game,” all-star left fielder Gary Sheffield said.

“There’s a reason those guys won all those games, and you know you’re pretty much going to get those types of performances from them every time out.

“But we’ve got confidence in our starters too, and you know that a lot of these teams don’t want to deal with [Kevin Brown] and Chan Ho when he’s throwing like he can.

“So we just have to give those guys something to work with. We might have to pick [the starters] up a little sometimes, but we know they’re going to pick us up too. And it’s the same thing against the Giants.”

The Giants’ workmanlike rotation does not stir as much concern as the Diamondbacks’ all-star duo, but it has been effective.

The Dodgers are scheduled to face left-hander Kirk Reuter and right-handers Jason Schmidt and Russ Ortiz this weekend as the trip concludes at Pacific Bell Park.

Reuter is 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers. The 13-game winner is 7-5 with a 4.37 ERA against the Dodgers in his career.

Ortiz, who leads the staff with 14 victories, is 2-3 with a 6.69 ERA overall against the Giants’ top rival, 1-0 this season.

Schmidt is 5-1 with a 3.67 ERA since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates, but has not faced the Dodgers with the Giants.

He lost but pitched well against them in a start for Pittsburgh this season, but is 2-5 with a 5.74 ERA overall. The Dodgers lead the season series, 8-5.

“This is such a great time of the year whenever you’re in contention, and the Giants and the Dodgers are such big rivals that it makes it even better,” said right fielder Shawn Green, who has set a Dodger single-season record with 46 home runs.

“Nobody has had the types of injuries like we have with our starters this year, but we’re still right there. We have to feel good about that, especially the way [Terry Adams] has really stepped up.”

The converted reliever has emerged as the team’s top starter since the All-Star break, going 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA in his last seven outings.

Tracy said he has not set the rotation for the final series against Arizona, but it is believed Brown, Park and Adams--12-6 with a 4.32 ERA--would start if a playoff berth were at stake.

“T.A. has stepped up in a role he obviously wasn’t familiar with and been great,” first baseman Eric Karros said.

“Trace having the foresight to use him [as a starter] in spring training turned out to be a great situation for us. ... He’s really established himself as one of the most effective starters in the league.”

Does Adams have enough left for the final push after already having pitched a personal-high 1452/3 innings? Will Brown’s damaged pitching elbow hold up under more stress? Will Baldwin and Park rebound?

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Tracy said. “There are a lot of clubs that wish they faced those questions at this time of the year.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

DODGER GAMES

Dodgers play only San Diego, San Francisco and Arizona the rest of the way:

SAN DIEGO (DODGERS ARE 7-6)

* Sept. 11-13 at Qualcomm Stadium; Sept. 17-19 at Dodger Stadium

SAN FRANCISCO (8-5)

* Sept. 14-16 at Pac Bell Park; Sept. 24-26 at Dodger Stadium

ARIZONA (6-6)

* Sept. 20-23 at Dodger Stadium; Sept. 28-30 at Bank One Ballpark