Padres' Park bests former team as Dodgers slide in NL West continues

| Wednesday, July 26, 2006 1:46 AM PDT ∞

BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES ---- During their 11-game road trip against division foes, Padres players and coaches have repeatedly said they expect the National League West race to go down to the wire.

Based on the evidence of the last two weeks, that race will probably involve, at most, four teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers are doing their best to remove themselves from the equation, and the Padres are all too happy to accommodate.

Behind the pitching of ex-Dodger Chan Ho Park and the slugging and defense of center fielder Mike Cameron, the Padres beat L.A. 7-3 on Tuesday night and today can sweep their first series at Dodger Stadium in three years.

The Dodgers' woes, however, run much deeper than the current series. They lost for the 12th time in 13 games since the All-Star break, falling a season-worst seven games under .500 (47-54) and a season-high 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Padres.

To make matters worse, first baseman Nomar Garciaparra ---- an All-Star and the team's most consistent hitter ---- will be out for the next five days with a strained knee ligament suffered Monday.

The Dodgers have at least made the Padres work, pushing them to 11 innings on Monday and putting the tying run on second base in the sixth inning. Then came the game's decisive play. Pinch-hitter J.D. Drew reached Park for a two-out single to center, but Cameron fielded it cleanly and fired a one-hop strike to catcher Mike Piazza, who tagged out Toby Hall at the plate to preserve a 4-3 lead.

Adrian Gonzalez gave the Padres some breathing room in the ninth, rifling an opposite-field double off the wall in left-center to drive in Rob Bowen and Khalil Greene. It was the second RBI double for Gonzalez, who's batting .429 (30-for-70) during a hitting streak that was extended to 16 games.

Cameron saved the game with his arm after giving the Padres an early lead with his bat. After Eric Young led off the third inning by getting hit on the hand by a pitch from L.A. left-hander Mark Hendrickson, Cameron launched a two-run home run to right-center field as the Padres went ahead 2-0.

Cameron's second homer of the series was also his 31st extra-base hit since June 1, the most in the major leagues during that span.

Pitching against his former team for the third time this season, Park tied a season high by allowing 10 hits, but the Dodgers turned the output into only three runs as Park didn't walk a batter in six innings.

The Padres snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning when Piazza led off with a double to left and scored on Gonzalez's double. A second run came around when Park's blooper down the right-field line dropped in for a single.

In relief of Park, the Padres received three perfect innings from their bullpen, with Alan Embree, Cla Meredith and Jon Adkins throwing one each.

The Dodgers scored on the first homer of the season by Kenny Lofton and an RBI double by Rafael Furcal.

-- Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com.