Dodgers Rise to the Occasion

After more than three hours and more than a few uneasy moments, the Dodgers finally found a more fitting function for the white giveaway towels that seemingly had little previous use except to signal surrender.

The towels transformed Dodger Stadium into a swirling sea of jubilation in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night after Kenny Lofton’s single to left field scored Julio Lugo with the winning run in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Lugo, who had walked as a pinch-hitter with one out and advanced to second on Rafael Furcal’s single through the left side of the infield, scored as Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday’s throw sailed wide of catcher Yorvit Torrealba. Lugo stepped on home plate and touched off a wild celebration that quickly erased the memory of a shaky start by Chad Billingsley and a second consecutive less-than-stellar effort by closer Takashi Saito.

“That just shows good team chemistry right there and gives us a little boost,” said left fielder Andre Ethier, whose eighth-inning solo homer had given the Dodgers a 3-2 lead before Saito surrendered the tying run in the top of the ninth. “I think things are right now where we want them to be.”

Only 16 days after facing a season-high 7 1/2 -game deficit in the National League West, the Dodgers moved into sole possession of first place in their division for the first time since June 26. A torrid stretch of 12 victories in 13 games has given the Dodgers a half-game lead over San Diego and Arizona.

“I guess they’ll have ice cream up in the office [today],” said Dodgers Manager Grady Little, referring to the old Dodgers tradition of celebrating first place under former owner Walter O’Malley.

Ethier had put Dodgers fans in a celebratory mood in the eighth inning when he blasted a belt-high slider from Rockies reliever Ray King inches over the outstretched glove of center fielder Cory Sullivan for his 11th homer, a solo shot.

But Saito, who had failed to preserve a ninth-inning tie Wednesday, again faltered in the ninth while blowing his first save in 13 opportunities this season. Todd Helton ripped a leadoff triple to right field and scored after second baseman Jeff Kent’s relay throw scooted past third baseman Wilson Betemit for an error.

What seemed like a critical mistake quickly became an afterthought in the bottom of the inning when Lofton lined a sinker from Jose Mesa to left for his third hit of the night and second run batted in, clapping his hands in triumph upon reaching first base.

“You just go out there and do what you do,” Lofton said of his approach with the game on the line. “You don’t do anything different. See the ball, hit the ball.”

Billingsley had trouble throwing the ball for most of a five-inning outing in which he threw nearly as many balls as strikes, and later acknowledged that a blister on his right middle finger had affected his command. Amazingly, Billingsley gave up only one run despite walking six and throwing only 49 of his 96 pitches for strikes.

The rookie right-hander issued three consecutive walks in the third inning alone but escaped the resulting bases-loaded mess by getting Brad Hawpe to ground into an inning-ending 3-6-1 double play. In the fourth, Billingsley walked the first two batters before retiring the next three in order. And in the fifth, he walked the leadoff batter before striking out Garrett Atkins and getting Holliday to ground into a double play.

Colorado starter Jason Jennings, by comparison, issued only one walk in the first six innings, and it proved costly. Furcal, who had scored the Dodgers’ first run in the first inning after tripling into the right-field corner and coming home on Lofton’s groundout, drew a one-out walk in the sixth. Furcal went to third on Lofton’s single to left and scored on Nomar Garciaparra’s sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

“It was a day of battling,” Billingsley said. “I didn’t have my good stuff. It was a matter of keeping my team in the game.”

Ethier and Lofton did the rest, giving Dodgers fans a use for those white towels.