Dodgers escape Philadelphia with a win

In a season that lasts six months and includes 162 games, it can be hard to pick out one month, one week or even one day and call it a turning point.

But if the Dodgers wind up playing deep into the postseason this fall, they might well look back at one pitch in Thursday’s game in Philadelphia and say that’s when everything fell into place.

That pitch was Chad Durbin’s full-count slider to Andre Ethier with two out in the 10th inning, a pitch the normally aggressive Ethier would have chased. This time he let it go, took the walk, and two pitches later Russell Martin delivered the go-ahead double that started the Dodgers on their way to an improbable 5-3 win.

“It was just a walk,” Manager Joe Torre said. “And then all of a sudden things happen.”

Well, some things happened before that too. Like Chad Billingsley, protecting a one-run lead and having already thrown a career-high 122 pitches, being left in to throw one more to the dangerous Matt Stairs. He retired him on a fly ball.

Or Jonathan Broxton, one strike away from saving the win for Billingsley, giving up a two-run double to Carlos Ruiz, a guy who hadn’t driven in a run all season.

But if that deflated the Dodgers, the depression lasted only a moment, because after Durbin got two quick outs in the 10th, Ethier, mired in a two-for-23 slump, came to the plate.

“We’ve got that fight in us,” Matt Kemp said. “The turning point came when ‘Dre got that walk.”

That’s because Martin followed with his third hit of the day to break the tie before Kemp, who also had three hits, doubled him in with an insurance run.

And for Torre, all that added up to more than just another win.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” said Torre, who has managed a team into the playoffs for 13 seasons in a row. “You always look around and the teams that are able to shake off bad things are the ones that are going to be playing in October.

“My stomach’s not good. But there’s no question when you digest it, the fact that you were able to do this tells you something about your team.”

The players, however, say Torre’s only learning what they discovered long ago.

“We knew we were special,” said Billingsley, who deserved a better fate after holding the Phillies to a run and three hits, striking out nine, in seven innings. “Today we found ways to win. Good teams do that.”

Kemp agreed.

“We have a great team. We’ve got what it takes to go far,” he said. “If we just stay on track, stay focused and keep grinding, then everything will turn out the way we want it to.”

Then there’s Ethier. Once maligned as selfish, he was content Thursday to simply start a rally rather than be the star.

“Our goal there was to get runners on base and not try to win the game with one swing of the bat,” he said.

The one name that wasn’t mentioned?

That of Manny Ramirez, the topic of conversation all week.

“No one’s going to have to carry us,” Ethier said. “The guy who everyone was expecting to do it isn’t here. And that’s obvious. But guys are picking each other up when they have to.

“And I think these guys are going to be a lot more comfortable and wiser when we get back to full strength.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com