DODGERS CAN MAKE IT BLUE STRETCH RUN.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

It is still out there. Can still happen. A time to treasure, a memory waiting to take form.

That has to be the focus now, not a game given way in Arizona or a series that should have been won in August.

For all their feeble hitting, for all the deals that weren't made, the Dodgers still can make the playoffs.

It's a moment that needs to be seized right now, on this last homestand. Friday was the first of the final nine games scheduled this season at Dodger Stadium.

``It boils down to this homestand,'' manager Jim Tracy said.

Friday's game against the eternally bothersome Padres began a final 17- game stretch. Seventeen games to decide whether this pitching-rich team will rise to the occasion or simply fade away, ultimately indistinguishable from other Dodgers teams that finished back in the pack.

There is ground to be made up, two teams to overcome, but it can be done. The Dodgers must believe it, must want it bad enough to make it happen, to force their will upon the National League.

``This is a homestand we need to win all nine, or eight of them,'' Dodgers catcher Paul Lo Duca said.

The surprising Marlins are playing their best ball of the season at exactly the right time. The Phillies are only 1 1/2 games in back of Florida. The Dodgers are 3 1/2 back, with the Cubs so close they can feel the point of Dusty Baker's toothpick.

It figures to be a wild finish. Only one team can step forward, and it can be the Dodgers.

The Dodgers looked flat, down Thursday night in their 2-0 loss at Arizona, appeared suspiciously like a team unable to put that crushing 5-4 defeat the previous night behind them.

``The big thing is we have to get momentum going in our direction again very quickly,'' Tracy said.

They started quickly enough Friday, when sore-shouldered Shawn Green homered in the first inning. An inning later, it was rejuvenated Adrian Beltre with the first of his two solo home runs. It was healthy-again Dave Roberts aggressively scoring from second on an infield error. It was reborn Wilson Alvarez shutting down the Padres.

The Padres, of course, would love nothing better than to knock the Dodgers out of the race. History says they're just the nagging team to do it. And seven of the Dodgers' final 17 games are against the Padres.

Last season the Dodgers won the season series 10-9, but in five of the previous six years the Padres won the season series. In the 1980s, the Padres were 95-78 against L.A.

It matters little how good or bad the Padres are, they always give the Dodgers trouble. There is no logic to it. You can't even say it's because all these San Diego types have this chip on their shoulder over big-time L.A. The Padres' roster is filled with players from the Los Angeles area.

The last-place Padres opened Friday's series 9-3 against the Dodgers this year; the Giants are 11-4 against the Padres.

``If we could even have it be a split (this weekend) or slightly in our favor, you'll be talking about three or four more wins,'' Tracy said. ``Three or four less losses, as far as the wild-card standings are concerned right now and the landscape would be changed dramatically.''

The Padres have a winning record against only one other team in all of baseball, and that's a thin 10-9 edge over the Diamondbacks.

Against the Dodgers, they're the '27 Yankees. Against everyone else, they're the '62 Mets.

``They give us trouble,'' Lo Duca said. ``They're always a thorn in our side.''

But the Dodgers pushed their recent history against the Padres, and recent losses to the Diamondbacks, out of mind in their 6-0 victory Friday, stepping forward like a team that understood its mission.

``There are still games that need to be won on this homestand,'' Tracy said. ``There isn't any game from the previous road trip you would look at and say, `Hey, now we're in good shape and we'll go to the playoffs.' Because this homestand has to be played.''

The Dodgers have played all year to get to this point, to have this opportunity. I gave up on them weeks ago, yet here they are, showing signs of offensive life, still throwing out the best pitching in baseball.

The Phillies and Marlins have to play each other six times. Both have series left with the Braves. They can come back to the Dodgers.

This can be pulled off. The Dodgers can return to the playoffs for the first time since 1996. It will take their best baseball of the season. At exactly the right moment.

And it has to happen right now.

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Photo:

The Padres have long been a Dodgers nemesis, but a homer by Adrian Beltre, background, off Kevin Jarvis helped L.A. to a victory Friday night.

Chris Urso/Associated Press