Dodgers Unable to Slam the Door

The door is still ajar for the San Francisco Giants to ruin the Dodgers’ fun, which they love to do.

The Giants reminded their rivals anything can happen until the National League West race is decided, making things interesting again Saturday in a 9-5 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 42,486 at SBC Park.

Pedro Feliz broke a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning, hitting a grand slam on a 97-mph fastball from setup man Yhency Brazoban. Feliz’s second career grand slam re-energized the Giants a day after they had dropped back in the division and NL wild-card races.

“I never faced him before, but I was watching him and saw what pitches he has,” said Feliz, who matched his personal bests with four hits and four runs batted in.

“I was looking for a fastball, something up. When I was running the bases, I was thinking, ‘We’ve got this game.’ ”

The Giants (87-68) pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Dodgers (88-66) in the NL West and are half a game behind the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card standings. The Dodgers’ magic number to win the division remains at seven games with eight games to play.

The Dodgers avoided Barry Bonds, walking him in all five of his plate appearances, three times intentionally. Robin Ventura went one for three with a double and scored while playing for Shawn Green, who sat out the game in observance of the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur.

San Francisco would further close the gap in the division with a victory today, and the teams close the season next weekend at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers have other plans. They’re in the driver’s seat and determined to end the suspense as soon as possible. They said one setback doesn’t change the situation, so the Giants shouldn’t plan to celebrate at their expense.

“Everybody keeps talking about how we need to win, but they need to win,” said Milton Bradley, who had two hits, including his 19th home run.

“Right now, they’re not even in the playoffs. We know we can beat ‘em on their home field, we know we can beat ‘em in a close game.

“To take it from us they’ve got to beat us on our home field, and we’re feeling pretty confident about where we’re at. They’re waiting for us to falter to give them a chance, and we don’t have any plans of doing that.”

The Dodgers got off to a good start Saturday against rookie right-hander Brad Hennessey, making his seventh major league start.

Adrian Beltre had a two-run double in the first, and the Dodgers took a 4-2 lead and chased Hennessey in the fourth on Alex Cora’s ninth home run, a two-run shot to right. Jose Lima has often shut down opponents when given leads this season, but Lima was working in pain because of a hairline fracture on his pitching thumb. The injury was aggravated on J.T. Snow’s one-hopper through the middle in the third inning that Lima tried to field.

“It’s not worse, it just started getting like more pain,” Lima said. “Then I got mad at myself for sticking my hand there instead of just getting it out of the way.”

The Giants tied the score, 4-4, in the fourth on pinch-hitter Tony Torcato’s sacrifice fly and Ray Durham’s run-scoring double, ending Lima’s work. San Francisco went ahead, 5-4, in the fifth on Michael Tucker’s sacrifice fly and the Dodgers pulled even again in the sixth on Bradley’s one-out blast to right.

Brazoban (3-1), the fifth of six Dodger pitchers, relieved Mike Venafro with two on and two out in the seventh and got Deivi Cruz to fly out.

In the eighth, Tucker singled to right, then advanced to second on Dustan Mohr’s sacrifice bunt. Ricky Ledee hit for Scott Eyre (2-2), the fifth of six Giant pitchers, and walked in a nine-pitch at-bat, then Durham fouled out in a nine-pitch at-bat. Tracy stuck with Brazoban to face Snow, who walked on six pitches to load the bases for Feliz.

Feliz connected on an 0-and-1 pitch, sending the ball over the left-field wall. Brazoban, who declined to speak with reporters, then walked Bonds before being pulled. He threw 22 strikes in 41 pitches.

“The unfortunate thing with the Feliz at-bat is that the fastball was mislocated,” Tracy said. “If it’s a 97-mph fastball that ends up in a pretty good spot, you’re probably still in pretty good shape.

“But a middle-of-the-plate fastball that’s running back to the bat