DODGERS CAN REST EASY NOW VICTORY FINISHES SHORT, TRYING TRIP DODGERS 8, COLORADO 1.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

DENVER -- For all the aggravation that befell the Dodgers over the past four days, all the middle-of-the- night airport arrivals, suitcases they never had time to unpack, hotel rooms they didn't seem to occupy for more than about eight minutes and games they seemed to sleepwalk through, it all culminated in a well-deserved, happy ending.

And, following an 8-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies in front of 19,135 Thursday at Coors Field, probably in a giant snoozefest on the flight home.

While it was one of the Dodgers' shortest trips of the year, it was by no means one of their easiest. This was what the honchos at the league office like to call "squeeze week," that once-a-season phenomenon when, in order to make a 162-game schedule fit into 26weeks, every team has to cram a pair of two-game series into Monday through Thursday.

This year, the Dodgers were one of three unfortunate teams that had to do the whole thing on the road, in two different cities, and it didn't help matters any that Arizona stuck with its usual pattern Tuesday of playing almost all of its home games at night.

But when the smoke had cleared and every drop of coffee had been consumed, the Dodgers had won three of the four games, reclaimed the National League West lead, picked up two games in the standings, run their record within the division to 10-3 and learned that much-maligned left- hander Mark Hendrickson can, after all, be a dependable starter on a contending club.

That last revelation came in the finale, when Hendrickson made his first start since last September in place of the injured Jason Schmidt and spent five-plus innings flirting with a shutout. That ended when Garrett Atkins turned Hendrickson's 75th and final pitch of the afternoon into an RBI single. An airtight bullpen and a lineup that finally seems to be finding its collective stride took care of the rest.

"Anytime you win on the road, it's huge, especially within your division," said Juan Pierre, the Dodgers' once-struggling center fielder who now has four consecutive multiple-hit games. "We can definitely take something from this road trip. We'll be home for a while now, so we have to protect the home front. If you don't (do that), it takes away from a good road trip. Arizona was a hot team coming in, and the Rockies always play well here.

"So all in all, it was a good road trip."

The Dodgers flew to Phoenix after Sunday night's nationally televised home game, which started late because of the pregame Jackie Robinson tribute and took more than three hours to play, and arrived well after midnight.

The team flew here after another three-hour game Tuesday, when the Dodgers completed a two-game sweep of Arizona. This time, they landed at 2:45 a.m. MDT Wednesday.

That night, manager Grady Little rested three of his starters, and the tired bunch that did play didn't make much of a showing, losing 7-2 to the Rockies. The next morning, the last player checked out of the hotel at about 10:30 -- roughly 31hours after the team checked in.

But this trip-ending win and this emotionally lifting performance by Hendrickson made it all seem somehow worthwhile. Even if the trip still wasn't as good as it could have been.

"We wanted to try to win them all," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "You're going to have different times in the schedule throughout the course of the year that aren't good travel. There might be a couple of tough day games following a late-night game.

"These things just happen, and you have to get through them and continue to play because the schedule is just going to go right on."

The Dodgers (11-5), who pushed their lead over second-place Arizona back to 11/2games, weren't expecting a complete game from Hendrickson, who hadn't pitched more than five innings or thrown more than 58 pitches in any of his three relief appearances. But because he was so efficient, retiring nine of the first 10 Rockies batters, Hendrickson (1-0) was able to give them 52/3innings.

Joe Beimel later ate up twomore, retiring all six batters he faced, which also helped Little save much of his bullpen for tonight's homestand opener with Pittsburgh.

"I would say the last couple of outings, I have been tired," Hendrickson said. "This time, I just tried to go as long as I could. I was pitching on fumes there at the end."

The rest of the Dodgers know that feeling well.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Dodgers' Luis Gonzalez, right, and Jeff Kent celebrate after being batted in on a Wilson Betemit two RBI single.

(2) Colorado's Jamey Carroll, top, falls on the Dodgers' Jeff Kent after Kent was forced out.

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press