Dodgers 6, Padres 2

Dodgers are starting to look like destiny's darlings, with Andre Ethier leading the charge. The rap against this guy his first two years was that he wasn't very good in September. This year, he is 18 for 28, with 10 extra-base hits, in September. If long division isn't your thing, that's a .643 batting average for the month. Tonight, he had a double, a triple and a walk in five plate appearances. This from a guy who came into this year batting .198 for his career from Sept. 1 on. More importantly, in improving to 74-71, the Dodgers opened up their biggest lead yet on the Snakes, who rallied a couple of times -- including from two runs down in the ninth -- only to lose to the Giants on a walkoff hit in the bottom of the ninth. Dodgers now have a 2 1/2-game cushion. It's way too early to start talking about magic numbers. But if it wasn't too early, the Dodgers' magic number would be 16. ... Andruw Jones was true to form in his return to the lineup tonight, going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, and the only reason he didn't GIDP in the sixth was that the relay throw was off-target. He made up for that, though, by getting thrown out trying to advance on a wild pitch that wasn't really a wild pitch. Kind of renders my question to Torre pregame, the one about whether Andruw can work his way back into the everyday lineup, a tad moot.