DODGERS CLOSE DOOR ON PADRES L.A. GETS TO S.D.'S HOFFMAN IN NINTH DODGERS 6, SAN DIEGO 5.

Byline: TONY JACKSON 

Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- Stop us if you have heard this one before.

It was the ninth inning. The Dodgers trailed the San Diego Padres in a game that had major implications relating to the National League West standings.

And celebrated Padres closer Trevor Hoffman was on the mound, facing the Dodgers for the first time since that historic game in Los Angeles last September when the Dodgers connected for four consecutive ninth-inning homers off Jon Adkins and Hoffman.

The setting might have been different, and the details might have changed slightly. But for the Dodgers, the result was basically the same: a furious, last-minute rally off a strangely vulnerable Hoffman and a stirring 6-5 victory over the Padres in front of a sellout crowd of 44,035 Friday night at PetcoPark.

The inning began with the Dodgers trailing 4-2 in a game they had seemed destined to lose since the first inning. Marlon Anderson, who had hit one of those homers off Hoffman last fall, led off the inning with a line single to center, hit just softly enough that it fell in front of Mike Cameron. Rafael Furcal, sensing the Padres infield was too far back, then dropped a perfect bunt onto the grass along the first-base line.

Adrian Gonzalez picked it up and looked at second just long enough to allow Furcal to beat him to first.

And after Juan Pierre bunted the runners into scoring position, Nomar Garciaparra -- the guy who had won that other game with a walkoff homer in the 10th, long after Hoffman had left -- brought them home with a double that split the seam between Cameron and left fielder Jose CruzJr. and rolled to the wall, tying the score.

With that, Garciaparra was batting a major league-leading .667 (12 for 18) for the season with runners in scoring position. He also capped an evening when he reached base five times and, for the first time in almost three years, had four hits.

One out later, the Padres curiously decided to intentionally walk the .297-hitting Luis Gonzalez to get to the .338-hitting Russell Martin -- the guy who hit the other home run off Hoffman last fall.

"I took it a little personally," Martin said. "I just got psyched up a little bit. I was hoping to get an at-bat that inning, and when I did, I just wanted to do the best I could do. The ball went off Cameron's glove, and I got lucky."

The two-run double gave Martin a .450 average (9 for 20) with men in scoring position.

More important, it gave the Dodgers (14-9) their first victory in five games, reinstalled them as the sole leaders in the division and reaffirmed their momentary dominance of Hoffman, even if that dominance extends just two games that took place more than sevenmonths apart.

This time it came on Trevor Hoffman Night, when the Padres belatedly feted their marquee player for breaking baseball's all-time saves record last summer.

"We kind of ruined his day a little bit," said Martin, whose hit chased Hoffman from the game. "Maybe he'll have a better one next year."

Lost amid the frantic rally was the fact it never would have happened if not for a diving catch by right fielder Andre Ethier that kept the Padres from padding their lead in the eighth. Rudy Seanez -- the guy who, as a member of the Padres, had given up Garciaparra's winning homer in that game last year, then signed with the Dodgers over the winter -- walked two batters to load the bases with twoouts in the eighth.

Kevin Kouzmanoff, the Padres' celebrated-but-struggling rookie third baseman, then hit a blooper to right that looked for all the world like a two-run single.

That's when Ethier, who had robbed Cruz of a hit with a diving catch three innings earlier, went airborne again, just getting his glove between Kouzmanoff's ball and the grass.

"You just have to get a good read and a good jump and try to anticipate the play," Ethier said. "On the first one, I was a little bit tentative because I didn't know if my judgment was right. A lot of balls you dive for, you kind of have to pick and choose situations, when to go for them and when to lay up. But if you're tentative, that's when you can get into trouble. You just have to stick to your guns and have faith that (the center fielder) is going to back you up if you miss the ball and vice versa."

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Photo:

(color) Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal puts a late tag on San Diego's Marcus Giles, who steals second in the first inning.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press