DODGERS NOTEBOOK: TRACY PREACHES INTEGRITY.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

PHOENIX - Dodgers manager Jim Tracy finally acknowledged the obvious Tuesday - that the Dodgers have virtually no shot at a playoff berth - when he held a closed-door, pregame meeting with his players to remind them they have a professional obligation during these final two weeks of the season.

``We definitely need to bear in mind the fact that if we can't be in first, we want to be in second,'' Tracy said after the meeting. ``We still have a legitimate chance of finishing second, and if we have that, then that's what I want to see.''

The Dodgers remain in the National League West title race, but only in the most technical sense. The magic number for their elimination entering the day was six. But the third-place Dodgers trailed second-place San Francisco by only two games, this after dropping three of four to the Giants over the weekend.

The tendency on some clubs who have nothing to play for, especially those with as much youth as the Dodgers have, is to start looking ahead to the upcoming 4 1/2-month vacation. That is the very thing Tracy was hoping to avoid when he called the meeting, which was brief and direct.

``The complete integrity of the game, and that's it,'' Tracy said. ``Nothing else.''

By suffering their 82nd loss of the season on Sunday, the Dodgers cinched their first losing season in five years under Tracy.

``It's the first time I have had to have (a meeting) like that,'' he said. ``We have only played 10 games since I have been here that had no bearing on the month of October.''

They'll play 10 in a row this year, beginning with Tuesday night's game at Arizona. Only when they go to San Diego for the final three games of the season will they have a chance to affect the outcome of the pennant race, and that's only if the Padres haven't clinched by then.

--Navarro out: Rookie catcher Dioner Navarro returned to Los Angeles to be with his newborn son, who was hospitalized with an unknown illness and had a feeding tube inserted. Navarro might rejoin the club today.