Dodgers Deal Own Wild Card

Do you believe in miracles? If you’re a Dodger fan, you better, because it’s going to take nothing short of a divine act, something of the supernatural variety, for your team to reach the playoffs this season.

Something like the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night. Times four.

Trailing by a run and facing one of baseball’s best closers, the Dodgers rallied to pull out a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies before 28,189 at Dodger Stadium.

Marquis Grissom had an RBI double and Brian Jordan hit a two-out RBI single during the rally.

Tempering the Dodger celebration, however, was San Francisco’s 6-0 win over the San Diego Padres, which kept the Giants three games ahead of the Dodgers in the National League wild-card race with four games remaining.

San Francisco reduced its magic number for clinching a playoff berth to two, and the Giants, who have won 22 of 30 games, moved within two games of slumping Arizona in the NL West and have now set their sights on a division title.

The Dodgers were eliminated from the division race with an uninspiring 1-0 loss to the Rockies on Tuesday night, but they were finally able to break through and put a little pressure on the Giants Wednesday night.

“It’s a great game for us to win,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “I know it’s late, I know our heartbeat is faint, but we’re still breathing.”

Their offense coughed and wheezed for the first eight innings Wednesday--the Dodgers managed only one run, on Jordan’s RBI fielder’s choice in the first, and advanced only one runner to third base over the next seven innings.

Then Colorado closer Jose Jimenez, who had converted 41 of 46 save opportunities, took the mound with a 2-1 lead in the ninth and was promptly greeted by Alex Cora’s leadoff single to right-center.

Seldom-used utility player Jeff Reboulet dropped a perfect pinch-hit sacrifice bunt, advancing Cora to second, and Grissom, whose two-run single in the ninth inning gave the Dodgers a 5-3 victory over San Diego on Saturday night, lined a double just inside the first base bag and into right field to score Cora for a 2-2 tie.

Paul Lo Duca flied to right for the second out, and Shawn Green was intentionally walked. Jordan, after fouling off a 2-2 pitch, poked a single to center to easily score Grissom with the winning run.

“Miracles can happen, you never know,” Jordan said. “As soon as the game was over, I was running off the field saying, ‘We’ve still got a pulse.’ ”

Jordan has been the heart of the Dodger team this month, with an NL-leading 26 RBIs in September, and when the Rockies walked Green in the ninth, Jordan made them pay.

“I’m challenged more in September,” said Jordan, who hit behind Mark McGwire in St. Louis and Chipper Jones in Atlanta. “In the past, it’s been Jones and McGwire and now it’s Green. I know they don’t want those guys to beat them. They put it on my shoulders, and I love the challenge.”

Closer Eric Gagne, who struck out three of four batters in the top of the ninth, got the victory, capping a superb relief effort that included two scoreless innings by Guillermo Mota and a scoreless eighth by Paul Shuey.

The Dodgers also got an excellent start by reliever-turned-emergency-starter Giovanni Carrara, who gave up two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out five and walking one.

“Tonight sums up a lot of the season,” Tracy said. “When you talk about character, this is a perfect example. To come up with two runs in the ninth was huge. From an effort standpoint, just look at Jordan sliding into first base in the first inning. He didn’t have to do that.”

The Dodgers played the first inning with the sense of urgency that Jordan said was missing Tuesday night. Lo Duca reached on a one-out infield single and took third on Green’s single to left.

Jordan followed with a one-hop smash to third baseman Todd Zeile, who gloved it, spun and threw to second to start a potential double play.

But Green’s slide forced second baseman Jose Ortiz to come far off the bag on his pivot, giving Jordan just enough time to dive into first before the throw, and Lo Duca scored for a 1-0 lead.

But the Rockies snuffed out any momentum the Dodgers gained by scoring twice in the top of the second.