Final Trip Grows Longer for Dodgers

The Dodgers returned to work Thursday and learned that they will end the regular season on a nine-game, 10-day trip against National League West opponents under the major leagues’ revised schedule.

They prepared to play host to the San Diego Padres in a three-game series when play resumes Monday, and braced for an extended regular season to accommodate six games postponed this week because of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.

The club has a longer sprint to the finish in the intense NL division and wild-card races because of series Oct. 2-7 against the Padres at Qualcomm Stadium and San Francisco Giants at Pacific Bell Park.

The Dodgers had been scheduled to play 10 of their final 13 games at home, finishing with three games against the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks on Sept. 28-30 at Bank One Ballpark.

After a day off Oct. 1, the Dodgers will complete their schedule in games that might help determine the division champion and wild-card berth.

The third-place Dodgers are three games behind the Diamondbacks in the division and 11/2 games behind the second-place Giants in the wild-card standings.

Commissioner Bud Selig’s decision to extend the season a week to complete the 162-game schedule might make it more difficult for the Dodgers to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 1996, but they said that’s irrelevant.

“The decision that baseball made is absolutely the right decision, without question, and I support it 100%,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “There are a lot of devastating numbers.... We know people are dead. We have people who are trying to find out if a loved one is still with them or buried alive.

“That creates no environment whatsoever to consider going out and playing a baseball game. It just doesn’t. We’re doing what we’re doing today [working out] out of necessity, knowing that we’re going to go back to work on Monday, but it’s hard to be optimistic and upbeat after what I’ve been watching on TV for the last two days.”

Players agreed.

“A lot of guys, and I feel the same way, thought it probably wouldn’t be right to play right now,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “What’s happening just makes everything seem so trivial.”

Tracy and pitching coach Jim Colborn set the rotation for the upcoming series against the Padres, and players took batting practice while trying to prepare for the resumption of play.

They will work out this weekend but said it isn’t easy.

“You understand that you have to be a professional, that this is what we do, but what happened this week really puts everything into perspective,” second baseman Mark Grudzielanek said. “You have to get ready to get back into it, but everyone’s thoughts are on what’s happened. It’s tough [to work out] right now ... the first day back is going to be very tough.

“I don’t care if it was this weekend, Monday, next week or the week after that. That first day is going to be hard whenever. Hopefully, we have the mind-set to go out there and perform the way we know we can, and not throw away what we’ve accomplished over the last few weeks. But there’s no way you can’t think about what’s going on. Just no way.”

Kevin Brown will start the series opener against the Padres, followed by Terry Adams and James Baldwin.

Chan Ho Park will open a four-game series Thursday against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Brown, Terry Mulholland and Adams complete the series rotation.

Adams, scheduled to start the first game of the postponed series against the Padres, said he could not have pitched this weekend.

“It didn’t even enter my mind that we would play,” the right-hander said.

“I mean, I just couldn’t imagine playing. If I had to think about getting on that plane [to San Francisco] ... I don’t know if I’d gotten on it out of respect for all those people in New York, and what they’re trying to do.”

Many players said they were surprised the decision seemingly took so long, and expressed dismay that some college football conferences initially planned to proceed with their schedules.

“There are plenty of days in the year when you can play a baseball game, college football game, NFL games or whatever,” Adams said. “It’s an easy decision to make, and there’s not really much to think about. Games just don’t mean much right now.”