Dodgers clinch tie for NL West championship

[September 25, 2008]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra homered, and the surging Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 12-4 Wednesday night to clinch a tie for their first NL West championship in four years.

The Dodgers' victory combined with Arizona's 4-2 loss at St. Louis gave Los Angeles a four-game lead over the Diamondbacks with four games remaining.

The Dodgers can clinch their fifth postseason berth since 1988 on Thursday afternoon if the Diamondbacks lose at St. Louis, or Thursday night when they face the Padres in their final home game of the regular season. Jake Peavy, 12-1 with a 2.21 ERA in 21 career starts against Los Angeles, will pitch against Greg Maddux, a winner of 354 games in his career.

The Dodgers have won just one postseason game since winning the World Series 20 years ago.

Ramirez, Garciaparra, James Loney and Angel Berroa drove in two runs each for the Dodgers, who have won 18 of their last 23 games to move a season-high eight games over .500. They were 65-70 and trailed the Diamondbacks by 4 1/2 games before beginning their turnaround Aug. 30 in Arizona.

Rookie Clayton Kershaw (5-5) earned the victory, allowing six hits and three runs in 5 2-3 innings. The 20-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out seven before being relieved by Chan Ho Park with two outs, a runner at second and the Dodgers leading 4-3 in the sixth. Park retired Nick Hundley on a fly to center to end the inning.

The Dodgers broke a 2-2 tie against rookie Mike Ekstrom (0-1) in the fifth on an RBI double by Garciaparra and Berroa's squeeze bunt.

Chase Headley's two-out RBI double in the sixth drew the Padres within one run and chased Kershaw, but Ramirez hit a 3-1 pitch from Cla Meredith into the left-center field pavilion for a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-3. Ramirez is hitting .398 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 50 games with the Dodgers.

San Diego's Brian Giles hit a sacrifice fly off Joe Beimel in the seventh, making it 6-4.

The Dodgers made it a rout in the eighth, scoring six runs off Clay Hensley and Dirk Hayhurst on RBI singles by Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and Berroa, a two-run double by Loney and a run-scoring double by Chin-lung Hu.

The Padres took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Giles and Adrian Gonzalez and a two-out, RBI single by Hundley. The Dodgers tied it in their half and chased starter Shawn Estes, scoring on Garciaparra's leadoff homer and a two-out, RBI single by Kemp. After Kemp's hit, Estes walked Russell Martin to load the bases for his third walk of the inning before Ekstrom retired Ramirez on a grounder to second.

Estes allowed six hits and two runs in 3 2-3 innings while walking three and striking out two.

Notes: Dodgers 2B Jeff Kent singled as a pinch hitter in the seventh, his first action since he injured his left knee Aug. 29. SS Rafael Furcal struck out as a pinch hitter in the eighth in his first appearance since he went on the disabled list May 6 because of back problems. ... Giles' fourth-inning double was the 400th of his career, and he scored twice, giving him 1,101 runs scored. ... The Dodgers have a 29-21 record since Ramirez joined the team, and are 16-5 in September -- best in the majors. The Kansas City Royals rank second with a 16-7 mark. ... Kemp struck out against Meredith in the sixth for his 149th strikeout of the season, tying the franchise record set by Bill Grabarkewitz in 1970. ... Former four-time world champion Shane Mosley threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Mosley will face Ricardo Mayorga on Saturday night at The Home Depot Center in nearby Carson, Calif., in a 12-round junior middleweight bout.

[Associated Press; By JOHN NADEL]

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