Young, old pull together for a win

Youth was finally served at Dodger Stadium on Friday. But not without a great deal of help from the third-oldest player in baseball.

That’s because the Dodgers’ recently constituted Kiddie Korps needed six strong innings from 44-year-old David Wells to beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-3, ending a three-game losing streak as the team won for just the second time in 12 games.

Pitching in what may prove to be his last major league game, Wells went out in style, contributing an RBI single and a run scored to his 239th career victory, 13th all-time for a left-hander.

“Could be, you never know,” said Wells (9-9), who nevertheless gave his phone number to Ned Colletti in case the Dodgers general manager wants to call this winter. “I’m going to entertain offers if there are any. . . . I’ll take it day by day. If I don’t play anymore, it was nice to go out with a win.”

But while Wells is on his way out, most of the guys who played behind him Friday are just getting started, with the Dodgers continuing their open auditions at the end of a season that probably will be remembered for a late-September swoon and a rift between young players and veterans that divided the clubhouse.

“We’ve still got the stance that everything is important that’s happening right here,” Manager Grady Little said. “Every opportunity that some of these players are getting to perform in the game, they’re being judged. And these judgments mean a lot.”

Friday’s win was important for another reason, because even though it came against the only team trailing them in the National League West, it assured the Dodgers of at least a .500 record and moved them within a victory of their seventh winning season in the last eight.

“We’d like to end up with a winning record,” Little said. “We’re going to try our best to make that happen.”

Four of the players starting behind Wells weren’t even born when the three-time All-Star began his professional career. So perhaps it was fitting that teen actor Zac Efron was on hand for the passing of the torch.

And for the most part the kids were all right, with Matt Kemp, 23, James Loney, 23, and Andy LaRoche, 24, each scoring one run and driving in another. Loney’s RBI came on a third-inning homer, his 15th this season, giving him 32 RBIs in September, the fourth-highest one-month total by a Dodger since the team moved from Brooklyn 50 years ago.

Graybeards Juan Pierre and Wilson Valdez, both of whom are just older than MTV, contributed a pair of hits and two RBIs, respectively.

But with just two games left in the season, it’s no longer so much about what the Dodgers are accomplishing on the scoreboard. As with most kids, it’s now more about the learning process than simply the results.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com