Dodgers start doubleheader with win behind Tony Gwynn Jr.

Tony Gwynn Jr., the forgotten Dodger?

The glamour guys in the outfield are Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. The surprising run-producing addition is Juan Rivera. The hot prospect is Jerry Sands.

And Gwynn?

He’s given the Dodgers just about all they hoped for when he signed a one-year contract in the off-season: great outfield defense, speed on the bases, a respectable .257 batting average, and on a damp Thursday as a bonus, a game-winning double.

In the first game of a doubleheader, Gwynn lined his ninth-inning double into the right-center gap to drive in two, break up a tie game and lead the Dodgers to a 7-4 victory over the Nationals in Washington.

Rain had started to fall when the Dodgers started their one-out rally against Washington reliever Drew Storen after he hit Sands with a pitch and Rod Barajas singled.

Dodgers make earth move for Cardinals in 13-2 blowout

It must have felt like an out-of-body experience. It was the Dodgers, offensive juggernaut. A team to fear.

Runs came everywhere, from most everyone. Players crossed the plate like it was an easy habit. Balls flew over the wall, off defenders, on line drives into the gap.

After five innings, the Dodgers had scored 11 times. With Clayton Kershaw on the mound throwing blanks, it was overkill.

The Cardinals looked like a team that could have used the Little League mercy rule, ultimately falling, 13-2, Tuesday in St. Louis.

It was the most runs the Dodgers had scored since a 15-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on June 27, the day the club declared bankruptcy. Which a Frank McCourt attorney actually said proved the club wasn’t bothered by the team’s financial troubles.

Dodgers suffer first extra-inning loss of the season, 7-6

The Dodgers thought they had the Rockies right where they wanted them.

Say what you will about the Dodgers this season, but they had been a monster in extra innings. They sneered at teams in extra frames. They were suddenly, inexplicably, baseball's best.

They seemed to be at it again Saturday in Denver, when in the 12th inning they got an unlikely home run from little Aaron Miles and an even more unlikely inside-the-park homer from Trent Oeltjen to take a 6-4 lead.

But rookie closer Javy Guerra blew the first save of his career in the bottom of the 12th, and then the Rockies won it in the 13th when Mark Ellis doubled with two out against Blake Hawksworth -- the Dodgers' eighth pitcher -- and Dexter Fowler followed with a game-winning single.

The 7-6 Colorado victory was the Dodgers' first loss in seven extra-inning games this season.

And for a moment, victory seemed so close.

Brewers keep rolling, down Dodgers 2-1

And that’s what good teams do. They hang around, scrap here and there, and then find a way to win.

It’s not that the Dodgers played poorly Tuesday night in their 2-1 loss to the Brewers, it’s just that Milwaukee played a tad better, finally coming through in the clutch with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

For the Brewers, it was their 18^th victory in their last 20 games. They’re finding lots of ways to win.

Alas, too often the Dodgers discover another way to lose. This defeat came in the ninth when their bullpen stumbled.

Hong-Chih Kuo continued his frustrating season when he came in to start the ninth and walked Prince Fielder. It was the only batter Kuo faced, but it would cost him the loss.

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly eschewed bringing in closer Javy Guerra, and instead went to Mike MacDougal. Casey McGehee singled on MacDougal’s first pitch. It was just a routine grounder that found a hole. It was going to be that kind of inning.

Dodgers show some life, rally for 7-6 win on Rafael Furcal double

Rare as water in the desert, and just about as needed, the Dodgers managed one of their best comebacks of the season Saturday.

Down 6-2 after just three innings, they scored three times in the bottom of the inning, tied it in the seventh on a wild pitch and then won it in the ninth thanks to a trio of hit-starved batters.

Rod Barajas snapped an 0-for-22 streak with a leadoff single in the ninth. He was erased on a would-be Trent Oeltjen sacrifice fly, but Jamey Carroll (1 for his last 21) singled and then Rafael Furcal (5 for 49) doubled into the left-center gap to score Oeltjen.

The Dodgers, who were just 3-45 when trailing after six innings, had rallied for a 7-6 victory before an announced crowd of 34,590.

It was only the third time all season the Dodgers have come back from a four-run deficit.

Laughing through the pain: Dodgers crush Twins, 15-0

And then they played a baseball game. A real, good baseball game. Almost like all was right in their universe.

There were no court proceedings, no legal maneuverings, no wishing the news of the day away.

The Dodgers just went out Monday and absolutely whipped the Minnesota Twins, beat them up like some other team’s owner had just filed bankruptcy.

They hit and hit some more, got their best outing from Chad Billingsley in six weeks, and then rolled to a 15-0 victory. As in, Chapter 11 plus four.

On the saddest day of their season, the Dodgers managed to play their biggest laugher.

The Dodgers collected 24 hits -- 18 singles -- and Billingsley pitched six scoreless innings. The 24 hits and 15 runs were both season highs.

Who knew bankruptcy was such an offensive motivator?

Tony Gwynn Jr. drives in winning run as Dodgers rally for two in ninth to edge Angels, 3-2

If there’s such a thing as a flawed masterpiece, the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw threw one on Sunday. If there’s such a thing as one-day redemption, the Angels’ Vernon Wells nearly experienced it.

But if there was someone who emerged as the unexpected hero, it was definitely the Dodgers’ Tony Gwynn Jr.

In a game that proved as wondrous a pitching duel between young aces Jered Weaver and Kershaw as anticipated, the Dodgers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to stun the Angels, 3-2, Sunday on a Gwynn hit.

It was the Dodgers’ fourth walk-off victory of the season, but this one was desperately needed, snapping a three-game losing streak during a difficult homestand, when the club went 4-8.

It also snapped the Dodgers’ six-game losing streak to the Angels at Dodger Stadium.

Don't look now, but Dodgers have won three straight; Andre Ethier, Chad Billingsley lead 6-1 win over Tigers

Meanwhile, back at the yard, a strange occurrence.

The Dodgers won again, won with the kind of pitching they were built around, won without Matt Kemp having to do a single heroic thing, won for the third time in as many games.

The Dodgers fairly knocked the Detroit Tigers around, winning 6-1 Tuesday as Andre Ethier crushed a two-run homer and right-hander Chad Billingsley started to get back on track.

The little three-game winning streak matched their season high, something they’ve accomplished three other times this season. If they scratch out a fourth consecutive victory Wednesday afternoon, it will also mark their first series sweep.

This looks familiar: Dodgers lose another tight one, 3-2 to Reds, to fall eight games back

Tuesday looked like too many Dodgers games this season: a close contest, a big hit that never came, a struggling bullpen, another defeat.

The Dodgers wasted a strong outing by Clayton Kershaw, falling, 3-2, to the Reds as the relievers faltered once again.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 31-38 and a season-high eight games back of the San Francisco Giants.

It was a pretty terrific pitching duel, though as it’s been going for the Dodgers lately, not quite terrific enough for their starting pitcher.

Kershaw, who pitched well early in his last start before struggling in the sixth and seventh innings and losing to Colorado, held the Reds without a hit through the first three innings.

By then he was up, 1-0, thanks to an unearned run the Dodgers scored in the first inning.

Dee Gordon led off with a single to center. Jamey Carroll walked to advance Gordon to second.

Andre Ethier then hit a ground ball that should have resulted in a double play. But Brandon Phillips’ relay to first went wide for an error. First baseman Joey Votto retrieved the ball quickly, but not quickly enough to even make a play on the speedy Gordon, who scored without a throw.

Rally falls short after Matt Kemp pinch-hit home run as Dodgers fall, 6-5, to Rockies

Outhit, outpitched, outfielded. Give the Dodgers this Friday night, at least they were consistent.

Things started going the wrong way even before first pitch, when the Dodgers scratched Matt Kemp -- the lone dangerous bat in their lineup -- from the starting lineup as a precautionary measure because of a tight left hamstring.

Without him, a weak Dodgers’ offense went completely limp.

The Dodgers had only three hits through eight innings and might have been shut out for the second time in three days, save for Kemp pinch hitting in the ninth, blasting another monstrous home run and igniting a belated five-run comeback.

As it was, the Dodgers’ rally fell a run shy, the Rockies holding on for a 6-5 victory that marked the Dodgers’ third consecutive defeat and fourth in five games.

Right-hander Chad Billingsley needed to be nearly perfect to compete against the Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin, and he was a long way from that.