Here’s Why Half a Game Back Is a Tough Way to Go

So this is what second place looks like.

Fat pitches. Wild swings. Bewildered stares.

So this is what second place sounds like.

Clubhouse murmurs. Managerial sighs. Reserved level booooos.

So this, for the first time in nearly six weeks, is where the Dodgers have plopped.

Looking up at the San Diego Padres. Looking across at the Philadelphia Phillies. Looking down into the darkness of a bottomless winter.

“We have to find a way to win these games,” said Derek Lowe late Sunday afternoon, shaking his head as shadows crept across Dodger Stadium. “We just have to find a way.”

This being September, it is a search successfully conducted only by the fittest, the wisest, the ones who have searched before.

The Dodgers today look like none of those things.

The San Diego Padres look like all of them.

In three hours Sunday filled with an exhilarating, exhausting postseason buzz, the Padres finally tackled the Dodgers from behind with a 2-1 victory that crunched the standings and fractured the mind-set.

With two weeks remaining in this rowdy regular season, the Padres lead the National League West, half a game ahead of the Dodgers.

For the first time since Aug. 9, the Dodgers are the ones doing the chasing.

And if you don’t think that this matters, this late, then you weren’t watching the horde of Padres who leaped out of one of the dugouts in celebration, or the solitary Dodgers who slowly disappeared beneath the other.

“This is huge,” said the Padres’ Geoff Blum. “Any time you can come into a division leader’s park and take over that lead in the final weeks of the season, it’s just huge.”

On the other side, only Manager Grady Little’s wince was huge.

“This game kind of signified what’s going on,” he said.

Both teams had terrific starting pitching, with Lowe giving up only one run while Chris Young gave up none.

Both offenses worked the counts and put guys on base and added to the 90-degree heat.

But in the end, the Padres pounced on a hanging slider from a kid Dodgers pitcher who had never before been in that situation.

And in the end, the Dodgers couldn’t touch a future Hall of Famer.

After runners reached first and second on a single and a walk in the ninth inning with the score tied, Jonathan Broxton floated one into Terrmel Sledge’s zone, and Sledge bounced it into right fight field to drive in the eventual game-winning run.

Soon thereafter, Trevor Hoffman gave up only a walk in retiring the Dodgers to finish the win.

Broxton, a rookie, pitched in 14 major league games before this season.

Hoffman, not a rookie, earned the 475th save of his career, three short of the all-time record.

You do the math.

The Padres and Dodgers certainly are.

“We’re built for games like this,” said the Padres’ Dave Roberts. “We have guys who have been here before, who understand what happens when the pressure mounts.”

On the other side, the Dodgers are celebrating Russell Martin’s stamina -- his homer tied it Sunday -- but clearly worried about the toll that the pennant stress is taking on the others.

Broxton, who has never played at this level for this long, suffered his first loss in his 61st appearance.

Andre Ethier, in the same untested spot, continued his recent struggles Sunday by going hitless while striking out twice with runners on base.

Wilson Betemit also went hitless, giving him four hits in his last 32 at-bats.

“They’re getting pushed pretty hard right now,” said Little of his kids. “There’s a lot of pressure there, not just physically but mentally.”

Little paused, and shook his head.

“But that’s no excuse, everyone’s in the same boat,” he said.

The Dodgers’ boat is even more shaky, though, when one considers that their veterans are suffering from stress of a different sort.

It’s obvious that Jeff Kent’s aching side has robbed him of his power swing.

It’s apparent that Nomar Garciaparra, whose sore leg kept him out of the starting lineup Saturday and Sunday, will stagger to the end of the season.

All you need to know about the current state of the Dodgers’ offense is the identity of their No. 3 hitter in their most important game of the season.

Yeah, on Sunday it was Julio Lugo, who began the game batting .233 as a Dodger with only seven RBIs in 116 at-bats.

He went hitless Sunday, striking out to strand two runners in the seventh inning after the Padres had intentionally walked Kenny Lofton -- yeah, that Kenny Lofton -- to pitch to him.

Is it any wonder the Padres, with 13 wins in 17 games against the Dodgers this year, can’t wait for the series finale today?

“You can just feel the vibe,” said a smiling Sledge. “There’s a playoff atmosphere.”

On the other side, that vibe is the sound of knees knocking.

Did you see what happened in the seventh inning Sunday, when batboy Johnny Garcia leaped up from his spot down the right-field line and made a leaping, lunging catch of a Roberts line drive that was headed for the stands?

Little immediately summoned him into the dugout for the rest of the game for good luck.

Yeah, the Dodgers will try anything, especially tonight, when they are faced with a must-win game against one of baseball’s hottest pitchers.

His name is Jake Peavy, and he has a 2.44 earned-run average in his last 10 starts.

The Dodgers will counter with Brad Penny, who this season is 0-2 against the Padres with a 9.00 ERA.

Said Blum with a smile: “We’d like to get a little breathing room here. We’re looking forward to this.”

Said Lowe with a frown: “It’s much easier to bounce back from a game that wasn’t competitive. This will be tough.”

What a difference a view makes.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.