Fever Stays With Dodgers

The Dodgers hopped and skipped single file into their clubhouse at Qualcomm Stadium late Sunday afternoon singing “Stayin’ Alive! Stayin’ Alive.”

First baseman Eric Karros, a wide grin spread across his face, yelled out, “We live to breathe another day.”

The mood was considerably different in that clubhouse 3 1/2 hours earlier. The Dodgers were watching with deep disappointment as the San Francisco Giants, two games ahead in the wild-card race, defeated the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Dodger mood hadn’t been much better in their dugout 90 minutes later when the San Diego Padres surged ahead of them, powered by two Mark Kotsay home runs.

But as they had done the day before, the Dodgers fought back, this time with runs in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings to pull out a 4-3 victory and keep pace with the Giants with six games to play.

With Dave Roberts sidelined because of a strained muscle on his right side and Marquis Grissom in his place in center field, the crucial at-bat in the ninth came down to Mike Kinkade, who tore up the Pacific Coast League before being called up in July.

But this is the big leagues, the closing day of a playoff chase and, suddenly, the season, at least for the moment, was in the hands of the new kid on the block.

Nerves?

Dodger outfielder Brian Jordan said he has never seen the kid show any signs of tension.

So what was Kinkade feeling?

“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “To me, it’s like an adrenaline rush.”

With the score tied and one out in the inning, Mark Grudzielanek singled to center. Even though he had only two stolen bases in 144 games before Sunday, Grudzielanek took off with two strikes on Alex Cora. Cora struck out but Grudzielanek was safe.

“That was a big play that kind of gets lost,” Karros said.

Manager Jim Tracy sent up the Dodgers’ premier pinch-hitter, the left-handed hitting Dave Hansen. San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy countered by removing right-hander Jonathan Johnson (1-2) and bringing in left-hander Kevin Walker.

Hansen may be the Dodgers’ all-time leading pinch-hitter, but Tracy didn’t hesitate.

Even with a potential season-deciding game on the line, he called back Hansen and sent in Kinkade.

The count went to 3-and-2.

“I felt with Grissom coming up behind me, they were going to pitch to me,” Kinkade said. “I was just looking for anything I could put a bat on.”

Kinkade got a fastball and lined it into center field. Kotsay fielded the ball cleanly and threw a one-bounce strike to catcher Wil Nieves, but as Nieves turned to make the tag, Grudzielanek’s left leg had already swept across the plate.

What made the comeback all the more euphoric was how dismally the game had begun for the Dodgers.

Kotsay hit the first pitch from Omar Daal into the right-field seats for his 15th home run. Deivi Cruz followed with a double into the right-field corner. Phil Nevin then punched a run-scoring single to center.

Three batters, seven pitches, two runs across and Tracy, with an injury-ridden pitching staff, having little option but to go with Daal as far as he could.

In the third inning, the Dodgers got on the scoreboard when Paul Lo Duca doubled home Cora, who had walked and been sacrificed to second.

In the bottom of the third, acting more like Mark McGwire than Mark Kotsay, the Padre center fielder smacked his 16th homer.

The Dodgers got one run back in the sixth after singles by Grissom, Shawn Green and Jordan loaded the bases. Karros hit a fly deep to center to get Grissom home.

The Dodgers might have gotten more but Green was caught off second and, after a marathon rundown that included eight Padres--just your average 2-4-5-6-1-4-2-3 play--he was tagged out.

“I was just hoping to run into somebody,” Green said.

Cora’s fifth home run in the seventh inning tied the game.

Paul Quantrill (5-4) got the victory and Eric Gagne came on in the ninth to extend his club record with his 51st save.

“If we lose this game,” Karros said, “we are done. Not mathematically, but it’s not looking good.”

Instead, they are stayin’ alive.