Sele Is the Star in Dodgers’ Win

Nothing against Roy Oswalt and Chris Capuano, late additions to the National League All-Star pitching staff, but how about carving out a spot for Aaron Sele?

It’s no more far-fetched than the soft-throwing 36-year-old trotting to the mound for the sixth inning Sunday after staggering through the fifth and briskly retiring the side, striking out two to bring his total to seven.

Perhaps most impressive about Sele’s six-inning, one-run performance that led to the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium was that it was no different from numerous other outings he has made since coming up from triple A the first week of May.

As for the All-Star game, Sele would just as soon pass. He has three days on a lake near Seattle planned. He’s going to teach his kids to water-ski and he’ll throw a pole into the water and reflect on a 6-2 record and 2.91 earned-run average that includes a 6-0 mark at Dodger Stadium.

He says he won’t dwell on what lies ahead, even though his track record warrants concern.

Sele has left the life in his arm at the lake the last three years, posting a 5-13 record with a 6.67 ERA after the All-Star break. Will this year be different?

“I can’t explain it,” he said, shrugging. “When my pitches are down in the strike zone I have success. When they aren’t, I don’t.”

Everything was around the knees against the Giants. Barry Bonds doubled to lead off the second and was stranded. Eliezer Alfonzo led off the third with a single and was stranded. The only damage came in the fifth, when Sele walked two and Omar Vizquel singled with the bases loaded to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 2-1.

Two relievers were getting loose in the bullpen, but Manager Grady Little stayed with Sele, who got Moises Alou to pop up, ending the inning.

It seemed that Sele would be lifted for a pinch-hitter after Russell Martin doubled to lead off the bottom of the inning. But Little stayed with him again, and Sele laid down a sacrifice bunt.

Then he breezed through the sixth, finishing by striking out Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz. Sele’s performance could not have been more welcome for a team that hasn’t been getting enough quality starts.

“This guy throws strikes and changes speeds,” Little said. “He continues to do a great job for us.”

The first two batters in the first inning scored the runs the Dodgers needed. Rafael Furcal beat out a ground ball to shortstop and Cesar Izturis doubled to right-center, advanced to third on a flyout by Nomar Garciaparra and scored on a sacrifice fly by rookie Andre Ethier, who batted cleanup for the first time, a reward for a .352 batting average.

Ethier has only six home runs, but that’s a significant number for this team. The Dodgers lead the league with a .285 batting average but are next to last in home runs with 76.

Garciaparra leads with 10, meaning nobody is on pace to hit 20. The last time the Dodgers didn’t have a player hit 20 home runs in a non-strike year was 1970, when Billy Grabarkewitz led the team with 17.

The Dodgers were 87-74 that year, finishing second with a record that might be good enough to win the mediocre NL West this year.

“We want to set ourselves up to be in a position to get to the World Series,” Garciaparra said. “It was good to go out and get this win before the break.”

The Dodgers (46-42) are in second place, two games behind the San Diego Padres. Only five games separate the five teams in the division.

Asked to give his team a first-half grade, Little said, “a strong ‘B.’ ”

“We are in a good position, but we feel like the best part is still to come,” he said. “We’re still short-handed because of injuries. It’s important that we continue to get good performances from our starting pitchers.”

High on the list would be a second half from Sele much like his first. “I like pitching with a good team behind me, and I’ve got that here,” he said. “I’m just going to keep pitching.”