Lowe does his part for Dodgers

PHILADELPHIA -- In the days just after World War II, when the Boston Braves’ rotation consisted of little more than Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn, the Boston Post summed up the team’s pitching philosophy thusly: Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.

Maybe the Dodgers should consider a similar slogan. How about “Penny and Lowe and pray for snow”? It sure beats the alternative: “Penny and Lowe and a bunch of other guys who haven’t won a game in a month.”

And it pretty much sums up the plight of the Dodgers, who have seen Brad Penny and Derek Lowe combine to go 4-4 with a 3.27 earned-run average over the last month while the rest of their starters are 1-10 with a 5.94 ERA.

Lowe held up his end of the bargain Wednesday, turning in his second brilliant start in a week in a 15-3 laugher over the Philadelphia Phillies that kept the Dodgers within 2 1/2 games of the lead in a crowded National League wild-card race.

To stay in the race, however, the Dodgers will need a lot more performances like Lowe’s from the rest of their rotation. Or a lot more performances like Wednesday’s from their offense, which saw six players get at least two hits while two -- Andre Ethier and James Loney -- each had three runs batted in, helping the team to a season high in runs.

“Having been part of playoff teams in the past I realize how important the last six weeks is. So you really want to be as sharp as you possibly can,” said Lowe (10-11), who gave up six hits over seven innings and did not walk a batter for the third consecutive start. “We need all five [starters] to go out and be effective game in and game out. That’s the only way we’re going to get back into not only the wild card but our division.

“It starts with starting pitching. You’ve got to get consistent starting pitchers, one through five, to keep your team in your game.”

Chad Billingsley will try to build on Lowe’s performance when he goes to the mound this afternoon, hoping to win for the first time in six starts. But at this time of year, Lowe said, momentum can be difficult to maintain.

“You’re at the point now where win, lose or draw the night before you have to forget it,” he said. “There’s no feeling sorry for yourself at this stage of the season. You’ve got to find a way to win every single game.

“Tomorrow’s a new day. We’ll try to go out there and continue the good offense.”

And the Dodgers certainly had that going Wednesday. After averaging fewer than four runs in their first 19 games in August, the Dodgers scored five times in six innings against Phillies rookie J.D. Durbin (5-3), then pounded the Philadelphia bullpen for 10 more runs in their final three at-bats.

In addition to Ethier and Loney, Matt Kemp had a career-high four hits and scored three runs, Rafael Furcal had three hits and scored four times and Juan Pierre ran his hitting streak to 10 games with three hits while scoring twice to lead an 18-hit attack.

Trying to maintain that, however, could be as difficult -- and as important -- as the rotation trying to string wins together.

“We know today’s over as soon as we leave,” Ethier said. “We’ve got to come out and win another ballgame and win a series and keep adding on victories to get us to where we want to be, the playoffs. You come to the ballpark the next day and you realize what you did yesterday but at the same it’s a new battle.

“You look at our schedule, everyone we play from here on out is someone we’re going to be battling either for our division or for the wild card. It’s a point in the [season] where you see guys slide a little bit harder into each base and take each pitch a little serious and concentrate a little bit.

“That playoff ball is already here.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com