Players focus on self-actualization

SAN DIEGO -- The Dodgers moved half a game closer to second place in the National League West on Thursday, which is pretty good considering they had the day off. But don’t assume anyone spent the night tracking the Diamondbacks’ victory over the Padres game in San Diego.

“We don’t worry about any other teams. We can’t worry about any other teams,” third baseman Shea Hillenbrand said. “Ballclubs that are really good and that do really well at the end of the stretch, they don’t worry about anything else but themselves.

“And that’s what we’re focusing on right now.”

Tonight the Dodgers won’t be able to help but focus on the Padres, because the defending division champions will be in the other dugout as the teams begin a three-game showdown at Petco Park.

A sweep would leave the Dodgers no worse than second in the division race heading into the first full week of September. But being swept -- as they were in San Diego three months ago -- could drop them to fourth in the standings and sixth in the wild-card race.

“The big thing now,” reliever Scott Proctor said, “is winning one game at a time.”

The pitching matchups would seem to favor the Dodgers, who will see only one of the Padres’ big three, when Jake Peavy, the league’s winningest pitcher, faces them Saturday. The Dodgers, meanwhile, will send former Padre David Wells to the mound tonight, followed by Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley, both of whom have won their last two starts. And both right-handers are undefeated against the Padres this season.

“We have to win every game,” Hillenbrand said of the Dodgers, who come to San Diego after their first series sweep in six weeks and having won four in a row for the first time since July 16. “We can’t worry about pitching performances, good games by guys. We have to give a collective effort and go out and do the best we can to win every night.”

Major league rosters expand to 40 players Saturday, but Dodgers Manager Grady Little said the team will be calling up only a handful of reinforcements for the stretch drive. And with double-A Jacksonville in contention for the Southern League playoffs, Little said the call-ups probably will take place in stages.

Although Little declined to discuss names, among the probable candidates to be promoted are pitchers D.J. Houlton and Eric Hull, infielders Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu -- all of whom spent time in the majors earlier this season -- and catcher Chad Moeller.

Staff writer Dylan Hernandez contributed to this report.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com