DODGERS IN MIDDLE OF JUNE TURNAROUND DODGERS 7, D'BACKS 3.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

PHOENIX - For all the offensive ineptitude, for all the wasted scoring chances, poor at-bats and baserunning blunders throughout the month of May that seemed to sabotage any chance the Dodgers had of improving their position in the laughable National League West, manager Jim Tracy usually blamed his club's maddening inability to score runs on one specific area of the lineup.

It's called the heart of the order. And for most of that nightmare of a month, heart was one thing the Dodgers seemed to have in short supply.

Until now, anyway.

The Dodgers won again Friday night, this time 7-3 over the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 32,182 at Bank One Ballpark. It was their fifth win in their past six games, and all five have featured major contributions from the third, fourth and fifth spots in the lineup no matter which combination of Milton Bradley, Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca and Adrian Beltre has been slotted there on a given night.

It appears this team has a heartbeat after all.

This time it was Bradley third, Green fourth and Lo Duca fifth. The result was that Bradley went 2 for 5, driving in one run with a third-inning single and another with a fourth-inning double; Green went 1 for 4 with a double in the third that would have driven in a run had it not bounced over the wall, forcing Bradley to stop at third; and Lo Duca went 2 for 5, hitting a decisive three-run homer to cap a four-run rally in the third.

Beltre, who was hitting sixth, added two doubles, neither of which led to a run.

In the past six games, the middle of the Dodgers' order is batting a combined .456 (31 for 68) with 16 RBI and 18 runs scored.

If the pitching-rich Dodgers are going to win this low-rent division, it is imperative they continue to get that degree of production from the middle of their lineup. For now, they have gotten just enough of it to open a one-game lead over San Diego after the Padres lost at home to Milwaukee, the first time the Dodgers (29-23) have been alone in first since May 18.

The top of the order also came through. On an evening when Tracy was serving a one-game suspension for Tuesday night's donnybrook and when bench coach Jim Riggleman was managing the team, the Dodgers went with a mostly right-handed lineup against Diamondbacks left-hander Casey Fossum.

That meant regular leadoff man Dave Roberts sat and switch-hitting Cesar Izturis moved into the top spot.

Izturis ran his hitting streak to 12 games with a leadoff single in the first but subsequently got caught napping and was picked off in a rundown. He followed with another single in the third and although Izturis was quickly erased on a fielder's choice grounder by fresh-off-the-disabled-list outfielder Jayson Werth, that second hit did set the stage for the winning rally.

Fossum balked Werth to second, Bradley drove him in with a single to right, and Green bounced a double into the Diamondbacks bullpen in left.

Lo Duca then lined another Fossum pitch into the Arizona bullpen, but this one didn't bounce on the way there. The Dodgers led 4-2.

Jose Hernandez had a leadoff walk in the fourth that led to another run, with Hernandez scoring on Bradley's double after a two-out walk by Werth. That 5-2 lead was enough even for Kazuhisa Ishii (7-3), who continued his recent bout with wildness, walking six batters. But Ishii, who had thrown six shutout innings at the Diamondbacks on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, made it through the requisite five to pick up the victory.

Ishii now finds himself in the unusual position of being among the National League leaders in victories while leading the league in walks (48).

Werth, who had made one pinch-hitting appearance on opening day before straining an oblique muscle in batting practice before Game 2, had a triumphant return, capping it off with his third major-league homer to lead off the ninth.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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