Weaver Shuts Down Rockies

Jeff Weaver swears it wasn’t him.

He wasn’t the one who pulled the plug on Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, when pockets of the Southland experienced a power outage.

But later that night, the right-hander had his fingerprints all over the power cord that was pulled from Colorado.

Weaver shut down the Rockies with a three-hit shutout in a 7-0 Dodger victory that gave him a career-best 14 victories.

“I’m just trying to do my job,” he said. “Starters have to do stuff like this to make a run at this.”

These are strange days at Dodger Stadium, the 30-minute blackout on the hilltop park notwithstanding.

A team that entered the day 12 games under .500 still fancies itself a division contender.

Stranger still, the Dodgers and their fans find themselves in the unique situation of actually rooting for Barry Bonds and the Giants, who are playing host to the National League West division-leading San Diego Padres.

For one night, the stars aligned for the Dodgers with their victory while the Giants beat the Padres, 4-3, in Bonds’ season debut in San Francisco. As such, the second-place Dodgers (66-77) are five games behind the Padres (71-72) with 19 games left in the regular season.

Colorado starter Jeff Francis (12-12) was chased after four innings, six runs (five earned) and nine hits and the last-place Rockies fell to 57-86.

And they have Weaver to thank.

“We’ve waited to the last minute,” he said. “Hopefully when we play San Diego [in the season’s final series] we’re only two or three games out.”

Against a team that had won six of the last seven meetings with the Dodgers, including five straight, Weaver did not give up a hit after Matt Holliday’s two-out single in the fourth inning.

Weaver (14-9) also struck out nine batters, walked one and hit another in getting his second shutout of the season. Weaver, who has thrown 202 innings this season, is one of seven NL pitchers with at least two shutouts. Dodger right-hander Derek Lowe is another.

Weaver, an impending free agent, who had 13 wins for the Dodgers last season and 13 wins for Detroit in 2001, was also helped mightily by the emergence of rookie Willy Aybar, the infielder recalled from triple-A Las Vegas on Aug. 28 who had three hits, scored two runs and stole a base against the Rockies.

Aybar said he’s just taking advantage of the opportunity presented.

“The success,” he said, “comes with the chances they’re giving me.”

The Dodgers pounded out 12 hits, half of which were doubles, and Weaver was the recipient of an early lead.

“I told myself it was a close 0-0 ballgame,” he said, “and it worked.”

A four-run third inning spurred the Dodgers, who already had a one-run lead thanks to Jeff Kent’s one-out double scoring Aybar in the first.

With one out in the third, Olmedo Saenz doubled into the right-center gap to bring home Kent, who had walked.

Jose Cruz Jr. followed with a double down the right-field line, scoring Saenz, and went to third on Mike Edwards’ single to left.

Cruz and Edwards came home two batters later when Jayson Werth doubled into the right-field corner with two out.

The Dodgers added a run in the fourth, with Aybar scoring from third base on a double steal when Colorado catcher J.D. Closser threw the ball into left field, and another run in the fifth, with Dioner Navarro scoring on Aybar’s single to left, to grab the 7-0 advantage.

“Offensively, we were pretty consistent,” said Dodger Manager Jim Tracy. “We did a great job of running the bases and Jeff Weaver did the rest.

“He’s the workhorse of the staff. He goes deep into the game more often that not.”

Now, the Dodgers hope to go deeper into the season with a realistic shot at catching the Padres.

“One day at a time,” Tracy said. “We keep playing. We know our margin of error is very slim.”