DODGERS GAIN ON PADRES : LATE-GAME RALLY HELPS CLOSE GAP IN NL WEST RACE DODGERS 3, CINCINNATI 2.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

For the first 10 weeks of the season, they probably felt as if they were chasing a ghost.

The Dodgers would mount the occasional surge, and look expectantly at the National League West standings, only to discover that they were mostly spinning their wheels behind the San Diego Padres.

Maybe that's why Sunday's 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium was so gratifying for the Dodgers and the 47,847 fans who witnessed it.

In producing a late, winning rally for the second game in a row, the Dodgers were able to enjoy a significant payoff. As the Padres reel, finally - they've lost six of their past seven games - the second-place Dodgers are seizing an opportunity to creep up on them.

This victory, L.A.'s third in four games, narrowed the gap in the West to 3-1/2 games, the tightest it's been since May 18. In only a weekend's time, the Padres' lead shrank by 2-1/2 games.

``It's good,'' Milt Thompson understated after the Dodgers struck for two runs in the eighth inning to overcome the Reds. ``The way (the Padres) have been winning, it seems like we've been coming from behind all year.

``We don't play them until July. The thing is to stay close.''

Until now, the Dodgers had experienced only futility in their pursuit.

They won four in a row in late April but gained not a smidgin in the standings.

In the middle of May, they strung together a stretch of six victories in nine games. Games behind leader at the start of that run: 5-1/2. GBL at the finish: 5-1/2.

On the Dodgers' last road trip, they again won six of nine. Ground gained? None.

``We've got to put a streak together,'' said Todd Hollandsworth, ``and put a little pressure on San Diego.''

This probably isn't a bad way to go about it.

The Dodgers exhibited a lot of heart over the weekend, pushing across a run in the 10th inning to edge the Reds on Saturday night, then overcoming a 2-1 Cincinnati lead in the eighth inning Sunday.

The latter outcome marked only the fourth time in 29 opportunities this season the Dodgers have pulled out a win after falling behind through seven innings.

This one came at the expense of a figure familiar to Southern California baseball fans. Lee Smith, demonstrating that the Angels probably knew what they were doing when they ditched baseball's all-time - and ancient - saves leader while committing to Troy Percival, was stung for four hits and two runs as the Dodgers rallied in the eighth.

Delino DeShields led off with a drag-bunt single and dashed to second when lackadaisical second baseman Bret Boone couldn't catch or knock down Hal Morris' errant throw. Hollandsworth followed with a game-tying, RBI single to center after working Smith to a full count. And Eric Karros, who earlier had homered for the Dodgers' first run, drilled a double into the left-field corner to get the game-winner home.

It all made a winner of Hideo Nomo (7-5), who struck out nine over seven innings - and also stroked two doubles - to rebound from a stretch in which he dropped three of four decisions.

``We're battling,'' said Hollandsworth, whose personal battle had yielded only two hits in 18 previous at-bats when he stepped to the plate in the eighth. ``(Winning the close ones) is a good thing for this team. It will get us going.

``Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to succeed. Sometimes we overdo it. We just have to relax.''

Nomo hiked his strikeout total to 92, which ranks third in the league, and mixed a diving forkball with a live heater to perhaps quiet any whispers that he was slumping toward mediocrity.

Todd Worrell finished up, earning his league-leading 17th save (in 20 opportunities).

``My condition has been unchanged,'' Nomo said, through an interpreter, when asked about the apparent revival of both bread-and-butter pitches. ``If the team wins, that makes everybody happy, and also makes me happy, too.''

And if it enables the Dodgers to finally carve deeply into San Diego's lead? All the better.

Dodgers box score, Page 10.

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Photo

PHOTO (color) Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo smacks the first o f his two doubles against the Reds at Dodger Stadium.

Tina Gerson / Daily News