Dodger Slump Ends in Atlanta

ATLANTA —  Did the Dodgers just clinch their first playoff berth in eight years or merely break an eight-game early-season losing streak while facing one of the National League’s coldest lineups?

It was difficult to tell Saturday afternoon, judging by the way Dodger Manager Jim Tracy gushed about his team after its 7-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

“The thing that I admire about this group of players is that they never wavered,” Tracy said. “They stayed together, they kept playing hard, there was no finger-pointing. I think we just passed a very serious test.

“Nobody likes to go through that, but in the long run we will gain from it because if something like that can’t dent your fortress ... it’s much easier to handle tough times and know that there’s a lot of good ones ahead of you.”

There was no doubt that the Dodgers felt a well-earned sense of relief after starter Jeff Weaver struck out a season-high nine hitters during seven-plus high-quality innings and Jason Grabowski and Alex Cora homered to lead an offense that produced 13 hits after being shut out the previous two games.

But a little perspective might be in order.

Consider that these are the Braves, who have won 12 consecutive division titles in name only. Gary Sheffield, Greg Maddux and Javy Lopez are gone, Marcus Giles is on the disabled list and Chipper Jones is only rounding into form after coming off the DL after a strained right hamstring.

In two consecutive games this week, Atlanta hitters struck out 18 times against Milwaukee’s Ben Sheets and 13 times against Arizona’s Randy Johnson during the Diamondback pitcher’s perfect game.

Weaver and relievers Guillermo Mota and Eric Gagne combined for 11 strikeouts Saturday. Weaver (3-5) gave up six hits and three runs. His shutout bid ended in the eighth when pinch-hitter Dewayne Wise clubbed a three-run homer to right-center on perhaps the right-hander’s only bad pitch of the game.

“I don’t know that a drop-down, sweeping breaking ball into the bat of a left-handed hitter is the best choice there in a two-strike situation, when he was pitching inside so effectively well,” Tracy said. “But that’s his only mistake.”

Milton Bradley ended the Dodgers’ 22-inning scoreless streak in the third when he singled to center, went to third on Adrian Beltre’s single and scored on Juan Encarnacion’s fielder’s choice. Grabowski followed with a two-run homer, his third homer in his last four games, and Cora later had a run-scoring triple down the right-field line to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.

“We knew we couldn’t lose every game for the rest of the year, so it was just a matter of going out there and doing the things that we needed to do to win,” said Grabowski, who has filled in admirably in the absence of left fielder Dave Roberts.

David Ross hit an RBI single in the fifth, Cora homered in the seventh, Encarnacion ripped a run-scoring single up the middle in the eighth and the Dodgers went ahead, 7-0, without slumping first baseman Shawn Green, who was given the day off to recharge and refocus.

“It was just a matter of time before our bats got back to where they were that first month,” Weaver said.

Weaver’s confidence surged as his outing progressed, especially after retiring the Braves in order during the first, which had been a particularly troublesome inning for Weaver through his first eight starts.

Ross credited pitching coach Jim Colborn with an assist in helping Weaver get through an inning in which his earned-run average was 11.25 before Saturday. Ross said Colborn told the Dodger starters, who had struggled to pitch deep into games during the losing streak, “to go out there like they’re a reliever and get through that first inning and take it inning by inning, hitter by hitter and pitch by pitch.”

“That’s what Weaver did today,” Ross said. “He didn’t take any hitter for granted and pitched very well.”