Dodgers Can’t Stop Taking the Plunge

Step right up. This thrill ride rivals Apollo’s Chariot, Superman, Voyage and Millennium Force, any roller-coaster in the land, wood or steel.

And like most rides that take you up, down and all around, it eventually delivers you back where it started.

Since the All-Star break, the Dodgers are 20-19. But it has been perhaps the most white-knuckle 20-19 in baseball history.

The journey began with a stomach-churning fall, losing 13 of 14 games, including seven of seven to the St. Louis Cardinals and three of three to the San Diego Padres. It was the Dodgers’ worst stretch since 1944.

The turnaround was just as astonishing. Buoyed by a flurry of moves at the trading deadline, the Dodgers won 17 of 18 to vault into first place in the National League West. It was their best streak since 1899.

Now they are dropping again, having lost five of seven, including the last three days at San Diego, the final indignation a 7-2 loss Wednesday that resulted in three ejections and considerable dismay.

The Dodgers’ place in the standings has also vacillated. They’ve trailed by as many as seven games, led by as many as four, and currently hold a one-game lead over the Padres. The Arizona Diamondbacks are four games back, the San Francisco Giants are 4 1/2 behind and the Colorado Rockies trail by seven.

“The season is a long march toward a goal,” said Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe, who experienced several pressure-packed pennant races with the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s always that way. Now comes the most fun part. With all that’s gone on with us, and it has been crazy at times, we are in the thick of a race. That’s what we wanted all along.”

What will it take to win the West?

Dodgers Manager Grady Little has said repeatedly that 87 victories should do it. He is so locked in on that number that each day he scribbles down the win-loss record it will take each team to get to there.

None, frankly, appear likely to do so. The Dodgers must go 21-14. Every other team in the division would have to do better than that.

So maybe the necessary number is closer to the 82 victories the Padres logged to win the watered-down division last season.

“That means we’d go 16-19 the rest of the way,” Little said.

He laughed and said, “I’d shoot myself if we do that.”

The schedule doesn’t particularly favor anybody. The Dodgers play fewer opponents with winning records than the Padres, who still have six games against the Cincinnati Reds and three against the St. Louis Cardinals.

But the Dodgers face the Reds at home in a week and must make a three-city zigzag of a trip to Milwaukee, New York and Chicago in mid-September.

The Giants have the most games against opponents outside the division -- 20, including seven against the Reds and three against the Cardinals.

The Diamondbacks begin September with 13 games outside the division, but all are against teams with losing records except a four-game series with the Cardinals.

The Dodgers have been much better at home but play only 16 of their last 35 at Dodger Stadium. They are 27-35 on the road, and end the season with three-game series at Colorado and San Francisco.

“We’ve had some good stretches on the road too,” Little said. “There isn’t any reason we can’t play well wherever we are.”

He doesn’t expect any more lengthy streaks of victories or losses.

“The best thing in the world was us losing 13 of 14,” Little said. “We’ll never forget that. We won’t forget the winning streak either, because that showed us what we are capable of doing.

“But it’s going to be a fight from here on. There are a lot of teams that still think they can make the playoffs, and we play several of them.”

The first order of business is to end the latest slide. Getting out of San Diego might be all it takes. The Padres have swept the Dodgers three times this season.

“We don’t get too high after a win or too low after a loss,” shortstop Rafael Furcal said. “That sounds strange to somebody who looks at our record the last six weeks. But we reflect Grady Little’s personality. He’s always calm and we always know there’s another game, so we stay calm too.”

Another roller-coaster is ready for boarding. Call it the September Adventure.

“Every pennant race is a thrill ride,” Lowe said. “You don’t get away from that.”