Error Paves L.A. Way

It doesn’t matter to the Dodgers where those outside of Chavez Ravine rank them among potential playoff teams.

The Dodgers are confident they can compete with anyone during baseball’s payoff month, and they might have made believers of the St. Louis Cardinals after rallying for a 6-5 victory Friday night in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 53,494 at Dodger Stadium.

Cesar Izturis delivered a go-ahead, two-run single off Cal Eldred in the eighth, and the Dodgers also benefited from an error and passed ball in the inning as they fought back from deficits of 4-1 and 5-4 against the team with the major leagues’ best record.

“That was a great hit for me,” said Izturis, who had two of the Dodgers’ 10 hits. “But everyone, collectively, that’s how you win games.”

Eric Gagne did his part to cap the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive victory and second in a row over the Cardinals.

Gagne retired the side in order in the ninth, nailing down his 40th save in 42 chances and ending the 3-hour 20-minute game.

The Dodgers (83-58) overcame Larry Walker’s three hits and Jim Edmonds’ 41st home run in improving to a season-high 25 games above .500 and maintaining a six-game lead over San Francisco in the National League West. The NL Central-leading Cardinals (93-48) hold a 16-game lead.

Steve Finley made two more timely contributions in a highlight-reel week, hitting his 33rd homer, 10th as a Dodger, in the fourth to stake starter Jeff Weaver, who worked seven innings, to a 1-0 lead. His single in the seventh pulled the Dodgers within a run, 4-3, and they tied the score three batters later on Milton Bradley’s infield single.

The Dodgers had cut the lead to 4-2 with two out in the sixth as St. Louis starter Woody Williams hit two batters with pitches. Williams hit Bradley to load the bases and Alex Cora to force in a run.

Cora has been hit 16 times, tying the Los Angeles single-season record of Lou Johnson and Mike Kinkade.

With the bases loaded, Tracy summoned Robin Ventura to hit for catcher Brent Mayne, batting .222. But Ventura, the active career leader with 18 career grand slams, didn’t get to bat.

Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa replaced Williams with left-hander Ray King, and Tracy replaced the left-handed batting Ventura with Olmedo Saenz, who struck out.

After having been swept by the Cardinals in the teams’ previous series, the Dodgers suddenly don’t seem so overmatched. And they’re not surprised.

“We knew we could” compete against the Cardinals, Gagne said. “They’ve got a better record, but if we play our game, if we play the way we’re supposed to play, we can beat anybody.

“Yeah, they have a great team, and they made some mistakes, but we kept playing hard. Mistakes or not, we weren’t going to give up. We don’t do that.”

The Cardinals made costly mistakes in the eighth after reclaiming the lead, 5-4, in the top of the inning on Walker’s run-scoring single against Mike Venafro. Walker had a baserunning gaffe in the inning, failing to touch the bag at second and being called out, which might have cost the Cardinals an insurance run.

David Ross bunted for a hit while leading off the Dodgers’ half of the inning against Julian Tavarez.

Eldred (3-2) entered and got Jose Hernandez to ground to second, but Tony Womack had trouble getting the ball out of his glove, then shortstop Edgar Renteria couldn’t handle the toss, and the Dodgers had runners on first and second.

With Izturis batting, Ross and Hernandez moved up on catcher Yadier Molina’s passed ball.

Izturis worked a 3-and-1 count and singled up the middle against a drawn-in infield, triggering the now-familiar sight of late-inning celebrations at Dodger Stadium.

“I don’t think anybody could get as loud as these fans here. They’ve been great,” said Bradley, dropped from third to sixth in the order after having struck out 11 times in the previous six games.

“We had a tough series in St. Louis, but we came here and held our home court. They had some defensive mistakes that cost them, and just some bad luck, but we took advantage of it.”

And now the Dodgers go for the sweep today, hoping to send the Cardinals back to St. Louis as disappointed as they returned to Los Angeles.

“It was a little tough there and we had a bad series after a long trip,” said Shawn Green, who had two hits. “But we feel like we can play with anybody if we play well, and the last couple of nights we played well.”