It Starts to Feel Right for Dodgers

SAN DIEGO —  Hardly a day goes by without another Dodger injury, so when infielder Olmedo Saenz told Tim Wallach before Thursday’s game that he “felt sexy,” the words had more impact than just getting the batting coach to laugh.

It meant Saenz wanted to be in the lineup, even though Manager Jim Tracy had planned to rest him.

Tracy crumpled up the lineup card that had Antonio Perez batting third and Jayson Werth batting fifth, and wrote out another, this one with Werth batting third and Saenz batting fifth behind Jeff Kent.

The seemingly subtle difference proved substantial in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the San Diego Padres before an announced sellout crowd of 41,686 at Petco Park.

With two out and runners on second and third in the eighth with the Dodgers trailing, 3-0, Werth’s walk was followed by singles from Kent and Saenz to tie the score.

And in the 10th, Padre closer Trevor Hoffman (0-4) walked Werth with Cesar Izturis on third and one out, giving Kent the chance to drive in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to center.

After losing the first eight games of a trip that ends with a weekend series at Anaheim, the banged-up Dodgers defeated the Padres twice to pull within 4 1/2 games in the NL West.

Injuries have forced Tracy to thrust inexperienced players into key situations, making it all the more important for a veteran such as Saenz to want to play every day.

“Feeling sexy means I feel good,” Saenz said. “For me being one of the older guys, at least I can have good at-bats. The way we’ve been struggling, to split the series is a great job.”

Three rookies were in the lineup and two other rookies made pivotal contributions as relief pitchers.

Left-hander Derek Thompson tossed three scoreless innings after starter Elmer Dessens gave up three runs and threw 93 pitches in four innings. And Yhency Brazoban got through the 10th for his 13th save despite issuing the 20th and 21st walks by Dodger pitchers in the last three games.

“To come back and win with as many young people as we had in the lineup is a good character builder,” Tracy said.

After going quietly for seven innings against Brian Lawrence, the Dodgers (35-37) perked up when pinch-hitter Oscar Robles doubled and Jason Grabowski walked to lead off the eighth.

Izturis popped up trying to bunt for a hit -- something Tracy told him wasn’t smart with the team down three runs -- and the runners advanced on Mike Edwards’ groundout.

The Dodgers were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position when Werth drew the walk against reliever Akinori Otsuka, but Kent and Saenz soon changed that. Kent has driven in 55 runs in 257 at-bats and Saenz has driven in 32 in 134 at-bats.

“What a good team needs to do is give itself as many scoring opportunities as possible, then come through on enough of them to win the game,” Kent said.

The scarcity of scoring chances has put pressure on the bullpen, which responded nearly flawlessly. Dodger relievers gave up one run in 14 innings in the series and Thompson, Giovanni Carrara, Duaner Sanchez (2-3) and Brazoban held the Padres (40-33) scoreless after the fourth.

Thompson, who hadn’t pitched since June 7 and had experienced soreness in his elbow, was making his first relief appearance. He threw his curveball for strikes and had good velocity on his fastball.

“It was impressive,” Tracy said. “Maybe we learned something that we can continue to explore.”

Said Kent, of all the team’s injuries: “We aren’t at full force, not even close. There’s a lot of time left. We’ve got to get guys out of the training room and playing baseball the way the Dodgers can play baseball.”