Dodgers Can Serve Notice in Two Weeks

The Dodgers finally resume the major league portion of their schedule this week, facing the San Francisco Giants and Angels with a lot at stake.

Their confidence high after a 6-0 interleague vacation against the lowly Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, the Dodgers tonight begin a 12-game stretch against the teams that pushed them into the background during last season’s World Series.

The second-place Dodgers have pulled within two games of the Giants in the National League West, but San Francisco holds a psychological edge with a 5-1 record in the teams’ first two series.

The Dodgers have played better than the Angels, but management is still irritated by all the post-World Series attention the champions have received.

First-place in the NL West and top billing in the Southland are on the line for the Dodgers, whose self-esteem rides on every pitch.

“Anyone who says that this isn’t a really important stretch for us, that we haven’t all collectively focused on this, just isn’t telling the truth,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “All the games against the Giants and Angels are big, because they’re two of our biggest rivals.

“But after they were in the World Series last year, and the fact that that didn’t sit well with a lot of guys in here, we’re definitely looking at these as big games. They’re obviously going to be the biggest series of the year.”

The Giants are up first. San Francisco (42-26) has cooled off considerably after an 18-4 start, having dropped five in a row and eight of 10 from May 10 to 19. That provided an opening for the Dodgers (40-28), who reeled off 10 consecutive victories from May 14 to 25 despite the league’s worst offense and re-emerged in what appears to be a two-team race.

“If you look at it, are we the team that started [13-1]? Giant shortstop Rich Aurilia said. “Are they the team that won 10 straight? Probably not. Both are somewhere in the middle. This will be a good series.”

The Dodgers believe they’re well prepared.

“All the tough victories we’ve had, it builds character,” left fielder Brian Jordan said. “These series coming up, I think they’re going to help us. I always like playoff-type atmosphere.”

The Dodgers weren’t thinking about the playoffs after starting 7-11, including five straight losses to the Giants, whom they trailed by 8 1/2 games at the time. It was an early confidence tester for a team that expected to dominate the division, and the Giants couldn’t have been happier.

“I know they remember it, especially when the game is magnified,” said Giant center fielder Marquis Grissom, who played for the Dodgers in 2001 and 2002. “But that can go the other way too. They can be fired up because we have beaten them five times.”

San Francisco Manager Felipe Alou is more concerned about the Dodgers’ major league-leading pitching staff.

“We have a 5-1 edge, but every game is a new day,” said Alou, a mentor to Dodger Manager Jim Tracy. “It’s like a fisherman: He never sees the ocean the same every day. There’s always a different sea out there. That’s the way I look at these games. You can play a team 25 days in a row, but every day you’re facing a different team.”

The Dodgers said the Giants would face a better bunch than they did in April.

“Early in the season, we just got beat up,” said Lo Duca, who has a career-high 23-game hitting streak. “We lost a couple of games in San Francisco we felt we should have won, and it’s a different team now. We’re playing a lot better.”

Well, they’re still pitching better than anyone. The offense is another matter.

The Dodgers are at the bottom of the league in batting average, home runs, runs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. But they also have the majors’ lowest earned-run average at 2.92.

“We know all the games against the Dodgers are going to be low-scoring games,” Alou said. “Their pitchers are not going to give us a lot of runs.”

Fortunately for the Giants, the Dodgers usually don’t score many.

“You can talk about our offense all you want, but we’ve got the third-best record in the league,” Jordan said. “We find a way to get it done, and that’s the bottom line.”

With the All-Star break still almost a month away, the Dodgers know nothing will be decided in 12 games against the Giants and Angels, though overtaking the Giants in the division and outshining the Angels would be sweet.

“I’m just proud of the guys, that we didn’t look ahead to this week and played well on the trip [against Detroit and Cleveland],” Lo Duca said. “Now we can focus on this, and we’ve been looking forward to it.”

*

Giant Hurdle

Kevin Brown is 8-0 with a 1.25 ERA in his last nine starts. A look at what he has done against the Giants:

THIS SEASON

* 0-1 with 8.10 ERA (nine earned runs/10 innings pitched) in two starts.

LAST SEASON

* 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA (12 earned runs/9 innings pitched) in two outings.

CAREER

* 8-4 with 3.24 ERA (40 earned runs/111 innings pitched) in 16 starts.