It’s All Falling Into Place

The world has flipped on its head, and the Dodgers are doing cartwheels.

It’s opposing infielders making errors now. It’s opposing pitchers issuing too many walks. It’s opposing coaches getting frustrated by umpires’ calls.

And it’s line drives off opposing bats -- in this case an opposite-field shot by Ken Griffey Jr. in the eighth -- dying on the warning track instead of clearing the wall for a tying home run.

The Dodgers won their fifth game in a row, 5-3, Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park by benefiting from every break and creating their own.

“That’s just the nature of the game,” Manager Grady Little said. “We’re not leaving the clubhouse to play a game, we’re leaving the clubhouse to win a game. It’s fun to watch.”

Enjoyable sights for the Dodgers (52-55) included a four-run third inning keyed by a long double to left-center by pitcher Brad Penny (11-5), who posted his first victory in nearly a month.

The unexpected blast followed a one-out walk to James Loney. Penny couldn’t get a bunt down, then fouled a hit-and-run pitch to put himself in a hole. He guessed that he’d get a breaking ball from Elizardo Ramirez and pounded it to drive in the first run of the game.

Rafael Furcal singled to score Penny, Kenny Lofton tripled to score Furcal and J.D. Drew singled to score Lofton. It was the second game in a row that the Dodgers had used a big inning to bury the Reds.

The exertion of hustling to second and dashing home caught up with Penny on a hot, humid night. He gave up home runs to Griffey and Scott Hatteberg in the fourth inning, but the only runner to reach base thereafter was Ryan Freel, who was hit by a pitch with two out in the fifth. And Penny promptly picked him off.

Penny disputed the notion that he had slumped since his start in the All-Star game.

“Sometimes you get beat,” he said. “These are big league hitters. If you asked me before spring training would I take my record at this time of the year, I would have said absolutely.”

Tonight the Dodgers send Greg Maddux to the mound, and he’ll be fine if he simply follows the lead of a retread Mexican reliever and a 36-year-old Japanese rookie.

Elmer Dessens, the quiet guy the Dodgers took as an afterthought when they unloaded Odalis Perez to the Kansas City Royals, struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief, giving up only a home run by Royce Clayton that trimmed the lead to 5-3 and a one-out walk to Freel.

However, Dessens struck out the dangerous Adam Dunn despite falling behind in the count 3 and 1. The right-hander has given up one run in seven innings since the trade.

“Elmer came highly recommended by people who saw him pitch with the Dodgers the last two years,” Little said. “Now I’m seeing what those people were talking about.”

Griffey, whose home run was the 558th of his career, came up with two out and Little turned to Saito, who has had a dead arm for more than a week. Griffey drove a pitch deep to left, but Andre Ethier caught it with his back to the wall.

Saito made the most of the reprieve, striking out the side in the ninth for his 10th save.

“His arm was alive,” Little said.

So were Dodgers bats. They had only seven hits a night after accumulating 17, but they were timely. A double by Ethier in the fifth inning scored Julio Lugo with the fifth run.

“The whole attitude of a club snowballs,” Little said. “It’s just like when we were struggling, but the other way around. We’ve gotten the feeling that we are good again.”