Dodgers Break on Top

A strange ride stopped briefly Sunday as the Dodgers ended the first half with a 7-4 victory over the Houston Astros in front of 40,484 at Dodger Stadium.

The unpredictable team sprinted into the All-Star break atop the National League West after winning for the third time in a four-game series against the reeling Astros.

Catcher Paul Lo Duca punctuated the Dodgers’ eighth victory in nine games by hitting his first grand slam in the eighth inning to break open the game and give closer Eric Gagne the day off.

Jose Lima delivered his second consecutive quality start -- against the team he had a career year for in 1999 -- and the rotation’s seventh in eight games.

The Dodger offense produced 13 hits; Lo Duca and Jayson Werth had three apiece. Shawn Green, Werth and Jose Hernandez had run-scoring singles -- the latter producing the go-ahead run in the sixth after Houston had tied the score in the top of the inning on Carlos Beltran’s two-run home run off Lima.

Despite eight- and six-game losing streaks in the first half, the Dodgers (48-38) hold a half-game lead over San Francisco and are two games ahead of San Diego. The Dodgers also twice had winning streaks of six games, and they’re hopeful that trend continues.

“It’s weird,” Lo Duca said of the team’s hot-and-cold performance. “We struggled when we were healthy, and we’re not really healthy right now and we’re playing well.

“I don’t know what it is ... maybe it’s just a confidence thing. Hopefully, we can play more consistent in the second half and win games.”

Lo Duca helped the Dodgers close the first half on a high note.

He provided the key hit in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Houston, a three-run homer off Roger Clemens. On Sunday, Lo Duca again delivered a timely blow.

The Dodgers staked Lima (8-3) to a 2-0 lead on Green’s single in the first and Werth’s blooper in the third that Houston second baseman Jeff Kent lost in the sun. But the Astros pulled even with two out in the sixth when Beltran, with Craig Biggio on first, hit his sixth homer since being acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Royals.

“That pitch that Beltran hit was a good pitch,” Lima said. “People might say, ‘Oh, yeah, he hit a home run,’ but that was a good pitch. He’s a good hitter.”

Hernandez singled in the sixth off Houston starter Roy Oswalt (8-7), who was working on three days’ rest, to drive in Werth and put the Dodgers ahead again, keeping Lima in line for the victory and helping to calm the animated starter, who expressed anger in the dugout when Manager Jim Tracy pulled him after 85 pitches.

“I wasn’t mad like raising hell against Tracy, but you’re always pumped when you’re facing your old teammates ... you want to stay in there,” said Lima, who went 21-10 for Houston in 1999.

“It was a good feeling to go out there and face my old teammates. I was a little excited in the beginning, but then I settled down. I just want to finish what I start.”

Lima said the Dodgers must do that in the second half.

“It’s the same guys, it’s the same group when we win, but sometimes we fall asleep,” Lima said. “We just have to keep this going -- no mercy.”

The Dodgers loaded the bases in the eighth and Lo Duca connected on a first-pitch slider from reliever David Weathers, the ball landing on the roof of the Dodger bullpen.

“It felt great,” said Lo Duca, who has nine homers after hitting eight in 2003. “I’ll remember it.”

The Astros (44-44) would like to forget their disappointing first half.

Expected to contend for the NL Central title after signing starters Andy Pettitte and Clemens from the New York Yankees, Houston is fifth in the division, 10 1/2 games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals.

“Going into the season, we wouldn’t have thought it would be like this,” Astro third baseman Morgan Ensberg said. “We’re extremely frustrated.”