The Padres took two out of three from the Dodgers but came out of the series the same way they came in, trailing the Giants by half a game. They did enjoy a day back in first when they won on Wednesday after the Cubs shut the Giants out. But a 13-0 shellacking by San Francisco over Chicago coupled with a Friar loss dropped them back in second in both the NL West, and the idle Braves, for the Wild Card. The Rockies will return home to face San Francisco after losing four straight. They have fallen 3.5 games out of first. The Padres will play the Reds in Petco Park for the next three games. Here is how the Padres fared up in Los Angeles the last three days.

September 21^st, 2010 Padres 6 Dodgers 0

WP Clayton Richard (13-8) 9IP 8H 0R 0ER 2BB 6K 0HR

LP Chad Billinglsley (11-11) 5IP 6H 5R 5ER 3BB 6K 0HR

Clayton Richard shook off his three previous bad starts with a resounding performance Tuesday night, pitching a shutout and eliminating the hated Dodgers from playoff contention. Richard got a game-ending double-play to close out his first complete game of 2010.

Richard also got some great run support from his fellow teammates. Ryan Ludwick had a big hit with two outs in the top of the third, scoring Miguel Tejada and Adrian Gonzalez for a 2-0 lead. Ludwick had 4 RBI’s on the day when he was hit by a pitch in the fifth and a fielder’s choice in the ninth.

Yorvit Torealba hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth right after Ludwick took one for the team. Chase Headley followed with a bloop single to shallow right, scoring Gonzalez from second.

September 22^nd, 2010 Padres 3 Dodgers 1

Tim Stauffer (5-4) 6IP 3H 1R 1ER 2BB 5K 0HR

LP Ted Lilly (8-12) 7IP 8H 3R 3ER 1BB 8K 1HR

S Heath Bell (43) 1IP 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 1K 0HR

Miguel Tejada hit a milestone home run in a clutch situation to lead the Padres 3-1 over Los Angeles. Tejada’s two-run blast was his 300^th of his career, and put the Padres back in first place for the first time since losing it on Saturday after the Giants were shutout 2-0 earlier in the evening.

Tim Stauffer gave up just one run on three hits in six effective innings. Matt Kemp scored in the second after A.J. Ellis grounded into a fielder’s choice hitting a high chopper to short with a man on.

Heath Bell pitched a scorless ninth for his 43^rd save in 2010. The save surpassed his total from last season for a new career high.

September 23^rd, 2010 Padres 1 Dodgers 3

WP Hiroki Kuroda (11-13) 8IP 5H 1R 1ER 1BB 4K 0HR

LP Mat Latos (14-8) 5IP 6H 3R 3ER 1BB 4K 0HR

S Hong-Chi Kuo (10) 1IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 3K 0HR

Hiroki Kuroda dominated the Padres for eight strong innings, outpitching Padres Ace Mat Latos to knock the Padres back out of first place on Thursday night. Latos pitched better than his last two starts, but still lost after giving up three runs in five innings pitched.

Miguel Tejada knocked in the first run of the game when he grounded out to second in the first with no outs.

But Latos gave up two hits in his first three batters, with Andre Eithier doubling in Rafael Furcal from first to tie the game. Eithier would single in Furcal for their first lead in the third putting the Dodgers up 2-1.

Tony Gwynn made the play of the night in his first start back from the disabled list. With one out in the bottom half of the fourth, James Loney launched a ball to the gap in deep eft center. Gwynn caught the ball on a dead run before colliding into the wall two steps after. He held on to be chosen Baseball Tonight’s Web Gem of the Night.

Rod Barajas received an RBI for a bases loaded walk in the 6^th for a 3-1 lead.

Hong-Chi Kuo was perfect striking out the side for his 10^th save of the season and helping the Dodgers avoid the sweep.