LOWE SINKS MARLINS PITCHER BACK ON TRACK AS DODGERS WIN 7TH STRAIGHT DODGERS 6, FLORIDA 2.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

MIAMI -- It was clear from the first inning on Friday night that Derek Lowe finally had found his missing sinkerball, this after more than a month of not throwing it often enough, not locating it well enough and, consequently, not being nearly effective enough.

But it wasn't clear until the sixth inning that Lowe finally had found himself.

With Florida runners on second and third and none out -- the exact sort of situation that repeatedly had caused Lowe to unravel of late -- the Dodgers' right-hander blew a pitch past All-Star rookie Dan Uggla and gave up a harmless sacrifice fly to Mike Jacobs. That cut a three-run lead to two with one of the league's most dangerous hitters due up next.

But Lowe got Miguel Cabrera to ground weakly to third, ending the inning, the threat and the Marlins' last, best hope of snuffing out the Dodgers' latest winning streak.

That daring escape by Lowe became the signature moment in the Dodgers' seventh consecutive victory, 6-2 over the Marlins in front of 15,416 at Dolphins Stadium.

Lowe went seven innings, allowing just the one run on five hits without walking a batter. He finished with a flourish, retiring the final six batters he faced. He used his rejuvenated sinker to record 14 groundball outs.

And, perhaps most importantly of all, he threw his cutter just twice all night against the Marlins' mostly right-handed lineup.

That pitch is the one on which Lowe had become much too reliant against left-handed hitters, which meant he was throwing fewer sinkers, which in turn meant his mechanics on his sinker were becoming less consistent, which in turn meant the pitch had become less dependable.

Lowe won his second consecutive start, but it was his first vintage one since June 22, when he turned in a complete-game, interleague masterpiece against Seattle.

``Sometimes, you really can't put your finger on (the problem),'' Lowe said. ``If I could, I would have done something different four or five weeks ago. The bottom line is we executed pitches better throughout the game. The biggest difference is I was able to regroup in that (sixth) inning and come back and make quality pitches instead of letting things snowball.''

In seven starts since that domination of the Mariners, Lowe had gone 2-4 with an 8.27 ERA. But he started Friday's game by retiring the first six batters he faced, with three groundballs in the first inning and three strikeouts in the second.

He got a break after Hanley Ramirez's leadoff double in the third when Ramirez momentarily froze off second on Miguel Olivo's grounder to short and was thrown out trying to get back to the bag.

Lowe (9-7) pitched around Uggla's leadoff single in the fourth with three consecutive groundball outs, the first on a lunging play by second baseman Julio Lugo that took a hit away from Jacobs.

Lowe got another break when Ramirez tried unsuccessfully to stretch his fifth-inning single after the ball briefly got loose in shallow center.

But it was in pitching out of that sixth-inning jam and preserving a 3-1 Dodgers lead that Lowe was at his finest.

``He was on top of his game,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said. ``His sinker was working, and he spotted all of his pitches very well. He got some balls put into play when he needed to, and we made some good defensive plays for him.''

The Dodgers (54-55) continued to get the sort of timely hitting on which their winning streak has been built.

A two-out single by Rafael Furcal gave them a 1-0 lead in the third, and Kenny Lofton's followup single put Furcal on third base, from where he was easily able to score when Jacobs muffed a pickoff throw from pitcher Anibal Sanchez (4-2).

Another pair of hits by Furcal and Lofton in the seventh got Lowe himself home after he had drawn a two-out walk from reliever Randy Messenger.

That rally gave the Dodgers a 5-1 lead and all the cushion they would need.

``When a team is going badly, sometimes you see a lot of guys swinging at first pitches and making quick outs,'' Little said.

``When things are going good, guys see more pitches and are more patient, and they get good production as a result.''

Lofton and Wilson Betemit homered for the Dodgers. Brett Tomko and Giovanni Carrara closed out the game, with the only other Marlins run scoring on a sacrifice fly off Tomko.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Dodgers starter Derek Lowe gave up one run in seven innings, striking out five, to register his ninth win of the season Friday in Miami

J. Pat Carter/Associated Press

(2) BILLINGSLEY

Box:

DODGERS at FLORIDA

- Tony Jackson