Dodgers Use Their Sub to Sink Cubs

Are the Dodgers ever going to decide who they are?

The confounding bunch alternates between ineptness and brilliance while dragging their fans on a roller coaster ride, which continued on an upswing Saturday night with a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium.

Wilson Alvarez turned back the clock and thrilled a sellout crowd of 54,181, working seven scoreless innings to lead the Dodgers to their sixth consecutive victory.

The 33-year-old left-hander, starting because Kazuhisa Ishii is on the disabled list, came out of the bullpen and provided much more than the Dodgers could have expected. Alvarez (2-1) baffled the Cubs’ all-right-handed-batting lineup (four singles without a walk) in his third start of the season, energizing his teammates in their pursuit of the National League wild-card berth.

“His performance was far beyond my greatest hopes,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said of Alvarez, who sat out most of the 2000 and 2001 seasons while recovering from shoulder surgery.

“The bullpen needed some rest, and he was just great. All things considered, it might have been one of the best starts of the year.”

The Dodgers gave Alvarez and reliever Paul Shuey all the support they would need in a four-run first against Cub right-hander Matt Clement (9-10), who struggled after eight consecutive quality starts. The Dodgers got an inside-the-park home run from leadoff batter Dave Roberts and a two-run homer from Robin Ventura.

The Dodgers (60-55) have won the first two games of the three-game series, and moved ahead of the Cubs (59-56) in the wild-card chase. They trail co-leaders Florida and Philadelphia by 3 1/2 games with 47 remaining.

A team which had its playoff hopes fading fast after a 2-7 trip has re-emerged among the wild-card contenders. The Dodgers are rolling and confident again, trying to put their disappointing past behind them.

Now, if only they would make up their mind.

“It’s been a crazy year up to this point,” right fielder Shawn Green said. “You can’t explain it, I know I don’t know what it is, that’s just the way the team has been.

“But we can make up for everything if we play better than everybody else the rest of the way. If we can stay hot the rest of the season, we still have a shot.”

Alvarez’s performance helped the Dodgers maintain momentum.

His changeup was outstanding throughout an 89-pitch, 62-strike performance. Alvarez, whose fastball was clocked at 88 mph in the seventh, retired the last 12 batters he faced.

“It was like old times,” said Alvarez, who lowered his earned-run average to 2.90. “I was controlling my fastball, and my changeup was the key. I made good pitches when I really needed them.”

The Cubs were impressed.

“When a guy shuts you down, you can’t take anything away from that,” said Cub Manager Dusty Baker, whose team trails the Houston Astros by 2 1/2 games in the NL Central. “It’s hard to get any hits off this pitching staff.”

The Cubs didn’t know what to expect from Alvarez.

“He located his fastball and was aggressive with it,” said catcher Damian Miller, who homered with two out in the eighth against Shuey. “He was making good pitches and keeping us off-balance with his changeup.”

Roberts ignited the four-run first with his second career leadoff homer, but he got some help from the wall along the left-field line.

On a full count, Roberts slapped the ball past Cub third baseman Aramis Ramirez and down the line. The ball went into foul ground and caromed off the wall to the left of the foul poll, where left fielder Moises Alou raced to retrieve it with Roberts rounding second.

But Alou learned that playing balls off that wall is often tricky. He overran the ball as it hit the wall and spun back on the field, chasing it as Roberts reached third. By the time the Cubs had the ball, Roberts had scored standing up.

“I was just going to keep going until I saw the stop sign,” said Roberts, who hit his first leadoff homer last Sept. 21 against the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium.

“It feels good. We’ve got some time left to do some things if we just keep playing like this.”