This Team Providing Aroma Therapy

And into the maw of the pennant race the Dodgers stumbled Thursday, a first-place team in their face, Scott Boras twisting at their back, uncertainty on their faces.

Is it just me, or was it much more fun when they stunk?

One moment, a couple of veterans in the clubhouse were openly wondering about Jim Tracy’s decision to pitch Chan Ho Park in relief in Monday’s loss to the San Diego Padres.

The next moment, agent Boras was disrupting things again behind home plate by passing out Park’s resume in hopes of contradicting--and we’re not kidding here--Vin Scully.

And after all that, Park pitched.

Yeah, in between being embarrassed and ripped and defended and coddled, he still pitches.

Pitched pretty well, too, allowing the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks just five singles in seven innings.

Before being taken out because of a stiff elbow.

Just in time for Jesse Orosco to allow a bouncer and bomb, Craig Counsell’s single and Luis Gonzalez’ homer, tying the score before Park had unlaced his shoes.

Like we said, it was more fun when they stunk.

Even in the ninth inning Thursday night, they were both good and bad, and unlucky too. The loaded the bases with one out, only to watch Adrian Beltre stick a double-play line drive into the glove of Arizona shortstop Tony Womack that left the teams tied, 2-2, going into the 10th inning at press time.

If the Dodgers don’t win at least three of the four weekend games against the Diamondbacks--two of which are being pitched by Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling--they will let Arizona leave here no worse than when they arrived, at least four games ahead.

“If we split, the only thing that happens is, four days go off the calendar,” Tracy said.

And the Dodgers would be four games behind with 12 remaining in the West Division race, the only race that counts.

Indeed, they can already forget about any wild-card race, and not just because they were four games back with 16 remaining before play began Thursday.

It’s that there are three teams in front of them, two of which--the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs--will not play the Dodgers again.

The West Division race is simpler, its championship more possible.

Beat up on the Diamondbacks and Giants during these last two weeks and they will win.

And for seven innings Thursday, it seemed so easy.

Park, conspicuous as the only Dodger not to put his cap over his heart during the national anthem, soon was noticeable for the way he fooled Arizona’s big hitters, making them dive and flail and behave as undisciplined as our autumn weather.

Maybe that bad stretch of 16 runs allowed in four appearances is history. As long as that stiff pitching elbow doesn’t stay that way.

Park also benefited from, surprise, smart Dodger hitting, the sort of hitting that will be required to survive this pennant race.

First inning, runner on first, Arizona starter Bobby Witt threw an outside breaking ball. If Shawn Green--one for his last 10--tried to pull it, he would foul it off. Instead, he went with the pitch and bounced it into the left-field corner, scoring Mark Grudzielanek.

Fast forward to the sixth inning, a 3-and-1 count facing Chad Kreuter, who had not hit the ball out of the infield in his previous two at-bats. He picked the next pitch, a fastball, to take his easiest swing of the evening. It was no coincidence that the ball bounced high off the right-field foul pole and into fair territory for Kreuter’s sixth homer.

Now if they can just stop picking on each other, darn it.

Before the game, the topic was Park, the question was universal.

Was he mentally ready?

Even his boss wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” pitching coach Jim Colborn acknowledged. “I’ll see.”

In the clubhouse, players were certain when Park was not ready, that being in the seventh inning Monday when he allowed four runs to the eventually victorious Padres.

It is one thing for outside critics to wonder about Tracy using Park in such an unfamiliar situation.

It is quite another for Tracy’s own players to wonder, including Kreuter and Gary Sheffield.

“I was surprised,” said Kreuter. “When they said they were getting ready to bring Chan Ho out of the bullpen ... I snapped my neck around.”

Outside the clubhouse, Boras was catching everyone else’s attention, disrupting things as usual from his seat behind home plate, this time passing out Park resume booklets.

But this time Boras wasn’t just challenging a rookie manager, he was going after much bigger prey.

Guy by the name of Scully.

On Tuesday’s telecast, Scully repeated one of Boras’ recent comments that Park was pitching ample innings for a 27-year-old.

Scully, silly him, wondered how many innings were pitched by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale when they were 27. (Hint: A lot more).

The booklet compared Park to pitchers of his era, making the point that Koufax and Drysdale pitched during a time when managers didn’t worry about burning out pitchers’ arms.

The booklet referred to Boras’ corporation as “Serving the Athletes of Baseball.”

As far as serving the game itself, well, Boras has become a major-league pest and second-guesser whose seven Dodger clients need to understand that when he singles out the individual during the middle of a pennant race, he is undermining their team.

There were other hecklers among the 31,776 at Dodger Stadium Thursday, but none so loud.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.b