Dodgers Are Looking a Little Dated

The calendar might be the Dodgers’ greatest asset as they try to stay atop the National League West.

And maybe their only one.

The Dodgers are running out of time in the regular season, which appeared to be a very good thing for them Saturday during an 8-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies in front of 21,664 at Coors Field.

A night after overcoming their biggest deficit of the season, the NL West leaders stranded 10 runners -- Shawn Green accounted for six -- and were hitless in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers had only five hits in dropping the second game of the three-game series against the fourth-place team in the division. Jose Hernandez’s 12th homer provided the Dodgers’ only run.

Joe Kennedy (9-6) continued his success against the Dodgers, who again left Odalis Perez (6-6) feeling unsupported. Perez pitched well for the first time in four starts but left trailing, 2-1, after six innings.

Reliever Giovanni Carrara struggled in his 12th appearance in the team’s 17 games this month. Carrara gave up five earned runs in the seventh as the Rockies took command, 7-1. Kennedy had a two-run triple to cap the inning and chase Carrara, whose earned-run average ballooned from 1.57 to 2.51.

The Dodgers (85-63) maintained a 2 1/2 -game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants, who lost to the San Diego Padres, and reduced their magic number to clinch the division title to 12 games. However, they’re only 8-9 in September, their rotation is in tatters and they have six games against the Giants in their final 14.

“The Giants are playing good, but there’s not a lot of games left and we’re first,” leadoff batter Cesar Izturis said. “As long as we keep playing hard and doing what we need to do, we’ll be where we want to be” when the season ends.

The Dodgers hoped they had moved in the right direction after rallying from a five-run deficit Friday in an 8-6 victory in 10 innings against Colorado.

Momentum quickly shifted Saturday as Kennedy gave up only four hits in seven strong innings. The Dodgers failed to capitalize on the left-hander’s career-high six walks, including two that were intentional.

Kennedy improved to 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers, helping the Rockies (64-84) end a losing streak at four games.

“He handled our left-handed hitters, some key left-handed hitters in our lineup, and that was obviously the key to his success,” Manager Jim Tracy said of Kennedy. “We had some opportunities in the early part of the game to put runs on the board. We weren’t able to do so.”

Kennedy was especially tough on Green.

The No. 5 batter grounded out to second in the first and third innings after the Rockies intentionally walked Adrian Beltre with two out and a runner in scoring position. Green also struck out to end the fifth with runners on first and second.

Although the Rockies had 16 hits -- four by Todd Helton -- Perez delivered only the Dodgers’ seventh quality start this month. The Rockies had 10 hits against Perez, but the left-hander gave up only two runs.

Perez showed significant improvement after having failed to pitch six innings in his previous three starts. Again, though, it wasn’t enough.

“When you have 17 no-decisions ... it’s hard,” said Perez, who took the loss Saturday and has a 3.39 ERA. “I should have 16, 17 wins already, but that is not happening. People might say it’s a bad season, but I don’t think it’s a bad season.”