SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ó Joe Torre’s Los Angeles Dodgers have their swagger back.
The skipper has seen plenty of positive changes from his club in a matter of a few days. The NL West leaders showed they’re back on track in a big way during their recent road series with archrival San Francisco.
The Dodgers took two of three and distanced themselves in the division race ó that after losing the final three of a four-game series against Atlanta at home last weekend.
“It got our fight back,” Torre said of the Giants series. “I like where we are. It’s been a long three weeks for us. I feel we’re back in a good place right now as far as just the intensity with which we are playing. … It lets you see where we are against a team sitting behind you. It was a way to measure.”
First-place Los Angeles (69-46) headed into Thursday leading Colorado by 51/2 games and San Francisco by 61/2. The Dodgers just completed a grueling stretch of 20 games in 20 days and were off Thursday before opening a weekend series at Arizona on Friday.
Torre appreciated his team’s energy, intensity and production in a playoff atmosphere against the Giants, who had hoped to close the gap in the division but instead lost a second straight home series for the first time all year.
The Dodgers nearly made it a sweep but lost 4-2 in 10 innings Wednesday in a wild game that featured a benches-clearing dustup and the ejections of Giants manager Bruce Bochy and later San Francisco bench coach and acting skipper Ron Wotus.
This isn’t the first time the Dodgers have responded following a difficult stretch. They had lost three of four in May before a six-game road trip that started in Philadelphia. Los Angeles took two of three from the World Series champion Phillies, then two of three at Florida after that.