Dodgers Just Can’t Miss

Once in a while winning is as easy as rolling down a grassy slope on a warm spring day. It’s all giggles and guffaws, painless and effortless, reminding everyone how much fun baseball can be.

“You can’t wait for the next game to start,” Dodger third baseman Jose Valentin said.

The Dodgers are buoyant as they embark today on a seven-game, three-city trip, and why shouldn’t they be?

They completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres on Sunday, 6-0, behind a five-hitter from Jeff Weaver and home runs from Jeff Kent, Milton Bradley and J.D. Drew.

They finished 5-0 on their initial homestand for the first time since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. They have the best record in the major leagues at 9-2 and are three games ahead of the pack in the National League West.

They haven’t missed injured closer Eric Gagne or injured starter Brad Penny or injured left fielder Jayson Werth or anyone else. Not Adrian Beltre or Shawn Green or Steve Finley or Jose Lima or Alex Cora.

No one could have expected a start this good. Kent tried not to act surprised.

“We’ve got a good team,” he said. “We’ve got guys who control their emotions and play the game well for nine innings.

“There is a long way to go. We’re only two weeks into this. But playing this well allows us to know what we are capable of. It will be valuable to us later on.”

When the inevitable slump hits. When winning becomes as difficult as scaling a rocky slope on a scorching summer day.

For now, they will enjoy the journey and try not to jinx it. Weaver dominated the punchless Padres, who scored only three runs in the series. He did not give up a hit after the fifth inning and gave Manager Jim Tracy no reason to contemplate removing him before he could notch his first complete game in nearly three years.

Weaver tossed eight scoreless innings at San Francisco in his first start but was pulled because he had thrown 102 pitches. He didn’t squawk.

Then he watched teammate Derek Lowe shut out the Padres on Friday. There was some inner squawking.

“All of us starters are trying to outdo each other,” Weaver said. “We kind of compete against each other.

“I hope somebody tries to outdo me next time.”

Weaver’s only jam came in the second inning of a scoreless game when Phil Nevin and Ramon Hernandez singled with none out. Shortstop Cesar Izturis leaped and speared a line drive by Xavier Nady, but tossed the ball over Kent’s head trying to double up Nevin at second, and the runners advanced.

Weaver responded by striking out Jesse Garcia and Tim Redding.

“That’s the kind of situation that has got me in trouble,” he said. “I just had to collect myself.”

The Dodger offense soon began collecting runs. Kent scored on Ricky Ledee’s flyout in the second and homered to lead off the fourth. Kent is among the hottest hitters in baseball, batting .415 with four home runs, 16 runs and 13 runs batted in.

Bradley followed with a home run -- the second time in three games he and Kent went deep back to back -- for a 3-0 lead.

Weaver led off the fifth with his second hit, a double to right, and with two out Drew socked his first home run into the right-field pavilion. The last run came in the sixth on consecutive singles by Valentin, Ledee and catcher Paul Bako.

Weaver mowed down the last 10 Padre hitters. The sellout crowd of 53,402 roared appreciatively. “I Love L.A.” blared over the P.A. system.

How easy was that?

“You hit hot and cold streaks over a long season,” Bako said. “You don’t question it, you don’t analyze it. You just go out and play.”