Road Will Test Strong Start

With one week down and the rest of the season to go, the Dodgers find themselves in a rare and enviable position as they start their first trip of the season: alone in first place in the National League West.

Last season, the Dodgers spent six days in first and none after June 22. They have already spent six days in first in 2004 after winning their first two series against the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies.

“If you can do that frequently throughout the course of a season, more times than not when you get to the latter stages of the season, you’re in a position where you’d like to be,” Manager Jim Tracy said.

Said first baseman Shawn Green: “So far, so good. We’ve won the first two series and played good baseball. Hopefully we can go on this long road trip and continue to do what we’ve started.”

The Dodgers open their nine-game trip tonight against San Diego at new and dazzling Petco Park, where the rejuvenated Padres are coming off a series victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Green said he was looking forward to the new environs after struggling in Qualcomm Stadium.

“I hated hitting and playing in Qualcomm,” said Green, who had a .216 average at the stadium, with six home runs and 16 RBIs in 139 at-bats. “It’s just one of those parks -- I think everybody has a place or two that they just can’t hit in and don’t like to play in -- and for me that was by far the No. 1.”

Catcher Paul Lo Duca, who has a six-game hitting streak and a team-high .522 batting average, said he’d heard rave reviews about Petco, with the exception of the dugouts.

“The only thing I did hear is, the dugouts are small,” Lo Duca said. “But the clubhouse, I heard, is great, the weight room is great and the ballpark is a pitcher’s ballpark. You’re always excited to go to a new ballpark, especially against the Padres. It’s a little bit of a rivalry there.”

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Robin Ventura said he was OK with a reserve role in the wake of the Dodgers’ acquisition of Milton Bradley because that’s “what I basically came here to do in the first place” after being acquired in July in a trade with the New York Yankees.

The 15-year veteran has already come through once as a left-handed hitter off the bench, stroking a pinch single last Tuesday to score Adrian Beltre with the winning run in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over San Diego.

Ventura was benched when Bradley moved in as an outfielder and Green moved from right field to first base, the position Ventura had expected to play.

“I’m sure he’s not the happiest guy in the world about it,” Tracy said of Ventura, “but he’s also one of the most professional people I’ve ever been around and he’ll figure out a way to make the best of his situation.”

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Green committed his first error at first base Friday against Colorado when he dropped a throw from second baseman Alex Cora that should have completed a double play. Otherwise, Green has played solid defense and has no complaints.

“It’s been going pretty good,” he said. “I understood going in there were going to be some bad plays and some bad days, but it’s kind of what I signed up for.”