NOWHERE FAST DODGERS WIN BUT CAN'T GAIN WITH SIX TO GO DODGERS 2, SAN DIEGO 1.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - The glimmer of hope emerged, then cruelly was taken away from the Dodgers, who watched as the Florida Marlins trailed by three runs but rallied for a crucial victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

So the Dodgers took the field Tuesday knowing they couldn't gain ground in the National League wild-card race. All they did with their 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres, in front of 20,044 at Qualcomm Stadium, was keep pace and remain 3 1/2 games behind the Marlins for the playoff spot.

A loss Tuesday would have left the Dodgers vulnerable to wild-card elimination today. With Kevin Brown and Hideo Nomo pitching the next two games, the Dodgers would seem to have a decent chance to keep their chances alive for at least a couple more days.

``We just have to keep playing the way we've been playing,'' said second baseman Alex Cora, who won the game with a ninth-inning RBI double. ``With the pitching staff we have, anything can happen.''

For the Dodgers to win the wild card outright, they would need to finish no worse than 5-1 and have the Marlins lose all their remaining five games, plus have second-place Philadelphia and third-place Houston drop out of the picture. The Dodgers theoretically could finish 4-2 and force a one-game playoff for the wild-card spot.

``We're still in the race,'' said starting pitcher Wilson Alvarez, who allowed one run in seven innings Tuesday. ``Hopefully this game will make all the guys play a little harder (today). We can't lose; we have to win every game from now on.''

Cora drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning, when his double to the gap in left-center field, off San Diego's Rod Beck (3-2), scored Jeromy Burnitz from first base. Tom Martin (1-2) pitched a perfect eighth inning and Eric Gagne a perfect ninth for his 54th save and record 62th consecutive save dating to last season.

``We're in it, we're still alive,'' Gagne said. ``We're not (looking) as good as we were (Monday) or the day before, but we're still there.''

Alvarez, perhaps the team's most pleasant surprise of the 2003 season, looked strong again, but the Dodgers were held in check into the seventh inning by Jake Peavy, the Padres' talented but young and inconsistent starter.

In a game with obvious importance, the Dodgers got only one baserunner to second base until the seventh inning and almost wasted another solid pitching effort, as they have so many times this season. The Dodgers now have scored three or fewer runs in 80 of 156 games this season.

Alvarez allowed one run on five hits in seven innings but left after the seventh with the game tied 1-1. He walked one, struck out five and allowed fewer than two earned runs for the eighth time in nine starts since he joined the rotation for good in mid-August.

The Dodgers won it in the ninth inning, when Burnitz hit a one-out single and Cora followed with the double, after three previous groundouts.

``That (double) was pretty indicative of him, what kind of player he is and what he's done for this team,'' manager Jim Tracy said of Cora.

Alvarez had his streak consecutive scoreless innings snapped at 25 in the fourth inning, when Mark Loretta (St. Francis High of La Canada) scored from third base on a wild pitch. Alvarez's streak was the longest by a Dodgers pitcher since Chan Ho Park threw 25 scoreless innings to close the 2000 season.

Loretta started the fourth inning with a walk, and moved to second on a one-out single to center by Phil Nevin. Alvarez threw the ball past catcher Paul Lo Duca on his first offering to Xavier Nady, and Loretta easily scored from third for the game's first run.

Peavy had retired seven of the previous eight Dodgers before Adrian Beltre came up with one out in the seventh inning and crushed a home run to straightaway center field. It tied the game 1-1 and Beltre set a career high with his 23rd homer of the season.

The Dodgers had put only one runner in scoring position before Beltre's shot, and Peavy allowed the single run on five hits in seven innings.

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Dodgers' Adrian Beltre is congratulated by teammates after his seventh-inning home run in San Diego.

(2) Adrian Beltre's 23rd home run of the season gave the Dodgers a seventh-inning tie in an eventual 2-1 win.

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

Box:

(1) STORY LINES

(2) NL WILD CARD