Diamond Jubilee for the Dodgers

Manager Jim Tracy believes the Dodgers might be on the verge of delivering a knockout blow to the fading Arizona Diamondbacks.

“We sure could,” Tracy said. “And that’s no slight against them, because I don’t do things like that. But the numbers bear that out.”

The Diamondbacks are definitely on the ropes after being overpowered by Cesar Izturis, Jeromy Burnitz and Shawn Green as the Dodgers took the opener of a four-game series, 10-3, Monday night before 25,937 at Bank One Ballpark.

Izturis hit his first home run in 194 games and established a personal best with five hits, providing a spark atop the order in a 14-hit attack. The smooth-fielding shortstop finished a double short of hitting for the cycle, getting thrown out on a disputed call at second trying to stretch a single in the seventh.

Burnitz hit an opposite-field, three-run home run in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie against Oscar Villarreal (7-7). The one-out blast to left was his 27th homer of the season and ninth since joining the Dodgers.

“We were all excited right there,” said Burnitz, who put on an emotional display upon hitting the key homer. “The game is tied, it’s late in the game and it put us up, so there were definitely some emotions.”

And Green provided the final highlight in another explosion of hitting for the National League’s least-productive offense.

He hit his sixth career grand slam and 15th homer of the season in the ninth to put the game out of reach for the Dodgers (76-66), winners of four in a row. Green has homered in three consecutive games.

Guillermo Mota (6-2) worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Kevin Brown, who got a no-decision after pitching six innings.

The Dodgers have moved to within two games of Philadelphia and Florida in the National League wild-card race while pushing Arizona (73-71) to seventh in an eight-team pack. Arizona is 3-7 in its last 10 games, and six games off the wild-card lead.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to roll behind a suddenly invigorated offense.

“Tonight was very similar to what we just finished this past weekend in Colorado,” said Tracy, referring to the Dodgers’ pounding 45 hits and scoring 24 runs in a three-game sweep of the Rockies.

“We got production from top to bottom in that lineup. And the job that Izturis did tonight offensively for us as a tone setter; the kid just gets better and better.”

Batting leadoff with Dave Roberts out of the starting lineup again because of neck stiffness, Izturis tripled and scored in the first inning. In the second, Izturis hit his first homer since July 2, 2002, a two-run shot that staked Brown to a 3-0 lead.

Izturis’ last homer also came against Arizona. On Monday, Shea Hillenbrand provided the Diamondbacks’ runs and tied the score at 3-3 in the fourth with a three-run homer to left off of Brown.

“He was unbelievable tonight,” Green said of Izturis. “He and Burnitz were really the keys to the whole game.

“Everyone else was getting hits, so it felt good to get one. But [Izturis] really got everything started for us tonight.”

After singling in the fifth, Izturis in the seventh took a shot at hitting for the first cycle by a Dodger in 33 years. Facing Arizona starter Miguel Batista with one out, Izturis lined a ball into the right-center gap that center fielder Steve Finely backhanded while Izturis rounded first.

Finley set himself and fired a perfect one-hop throw to shortstop Alex Cintron. Izturis slid head-first and Cintron tagged him on the shoulder as second-base umpire Tony Randazzo called him out.

Although Finley made a great throw, TV replays indicated Izturis might have been safe at second. It appeared Izturis’ right hand had reached the bag before Cintron applied the tag.

Regardless, Izturis headed back to the bench, then singled again in the ninth before scoring on Green’s 420-foot blast to center.

“It was close,” Izturis said. “He made a good throw, the throw beat me, but he tagged me on the shoulder.

“Even if I wasn’t looking for the cycle, I would have done the same thing. The situation was there.”