Dodgers fall to Padres 7-5 after giving up three leads

Either way, the summer at Chavez Ravine looks a lot less bleak than it did on the first day of this month, when the Dodgers were nine games out of first place.

The Dodgers still are in fourth place, and they still are under .500, but the NL West is a glorious mess, jumbled and entirely winnable. The Colorado Rockies lead, but the Arizona Diamondbacks are a half-game back, the San Francisco Giants two back.

Then come the Dodgers, in search of their sixth consecutive division title, at 31/2 back. Even the Padres, with a record worse than all but two other NL teams, are only 51/2 back.

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