Home Fans Cure Blues

Enough Dodger fans forgave and forgot to nearly fill Dodger Stadium, chant the name of a slumping first baseman, cast All-Star votes for a slumping shortstop and cheer a slumping team as if it were opening day.

It took the Dodgers a couple of innings to realize that their disastrous trip was over and they were home, where acceptance apparently is unconditional. They spotted the San Diego Padres four runs, then showed gratitude for the support, winning, 5-4, in front of an announced 47,588 on Monday night.

There were signs of renewal all over. J.D. Drew played for the first time in six days despite lingering pain in his left knee -- and produced. Jeff Kent came back after a day off to drive in three runs on a home run and two singles.

And rookie starter D.J. Houlton (4-1) buckled down after teetering on the brink of disaster, venturing into the seventh inning for the first time and setting down a string of batters with a biting curveball.

Fresh off a dreadful 2-11 trip that Manager Jim Tracy called the most difficult in his five seasons, the Dodgers are facing a team they say they believe they can beat in a stadium where folks seem to live in the moment.

“I feel better at home, it is very comfortable here,” said first baseman Hee-Seop Choi, who was three for 34 on the trip but went two for four and scored a run with fans chanting his name.

Of course, the last time Dodger fans saw Choi at Dodger Stadium, he blasted six home runs in three games against the Minnesota Twins. Drew and Kent did not play Sunday in a loss to the Angels 30 miles down the freeway, but Dodger fans only seemed to care that the three and four hitters in the lineup were rested and ready against the Padres.

Drew and Kent singled in the first, produced two runs in the third when Drew’s walk was followed by Kent’s 15th home run, and figured in the fifth-inning rally that turned a one-run deficit into a 5-4 lead when Drew doubled in a run and scored on Kent’s single.

“We got the knee to a point we got the swelling out,” Drew said. “The pain was there but I had strength in my back leg again, and it let me stay behind the ball during my swing.”

Meanwhile, Houlton gained command of his curveball after giving up four runs in the first two innings, setting down 16 of the last 18 batters he faced while striking out five.

It was the eighth time the Dodgers have come back from a deficit of three or more runs.

“I could throw the curve for strikes, and that was important because it let me locate my fastball and sneak the changeup in there,” Houlton said.

The Padres (42-35) have been blowing early leads of late, but doing so begins with taking early leads, and that’s just what they did, scoring one in the first and three in the second.

Damian Jackson, who had 26 home runs in nearly 2,000 at-bats, led off the game with a blast near the left-field foul pole that a fan knocked onto the field. The hit was initially ruled a ground-rule double, but after conferring, the umpires changed the call to a home run. The Padres added three runs in the second with two out, including Xavier Nady’s home run on an 0-and-2 pitch.

But Houlton would give up only one other hit.

Kelly Wunsch pitched the eighth inning and Yhency Brazoban notched his 14th save, improving the Dodgers to 7-3 against the Padres, who still hold a 5 1/2 -game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West.

The Dodgers are relieved to be through with interleague play. They went 5-13 against the American League, but are 20-13 against the NL West.

“I thought this division was going to be stronger than it’s showing,” Kent said. “These are the games I like to play, none of this interleague [junk]. I’d rather play a good team like the Padres.”