Padres 2, Dodgers 0

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Los Angeles Dodgers were eliminated from playoff contention with one game left in the season. The San Diego Padres were out of it by the All-Star break.

Both teams walked away from the season finale Sunday knowing things could have turned out a whole lot better.

The Padres ended with a 2-0 victory against a lineup that included six rookies five making their first big league starts.

Oliver Perez (4-5) combined with two relievers on the shutout. Perez allowed six hits and no walks over 7 1-3 innings with seven strikeouts.

Brandon Villafuerte earned his first career save in place of closer Trevor Hoffman, who sat out the four-game series with an inflamed right shoulder.

Dodgers left-hander Victor Alvarez (0-1) allowed two runs and four hits over seven innings in his first start in the majors. He struck out five, including his first three batters.

This was the 13th shutout pitched against the Dodgers, who were undone by a 4-10 slide and a season-ending eight-game winning streak by San Francisco in the NL wild-card race.

``We didn't blow it. San Francisco just won every game. They were unbeatable down the stretch, and every loss cost us,'' left fielder Brian Jordan said. ``But considering the injury problems we had at the end of the year, we did great.''

Los Angeles led the NL West by 3{ games on July 2 but finished six games behind division champ Arizona despite a 92-70 record its best since 1991.

``It's disappointing to get this close and not get in,'' right fielder Shawn Green said. ``I mean, if you're going to miss out on the playoffs, you'd rather miss by five games than by a couple of games because then it's a lot easier to dwell on the negatives.''

This was the 12th time the Dodgers won 92 or more games and did not qualify for the postseason.

``A lot of guys in here learned how it feels to be in the race and learn the difference between playing in July and August, compared to September and the different pressures that you feel when you're still in it,'' said Jordan, who joined the Dodgers from Atlanta with pitcher Odalis Perez in the Gary Sheffield trade.

Before the game, the Dodgers tipped their caps to the crowd of 49,168, which pushed total home attendance to 3,131,255.

``We went down to the very end,'' first baseman Eric Karros said. ``It's always disheartening when you're not having an opportunity to continue to play, but this organization is definitely heading in the right direction.''

The Padres finished a season that began with the death of outfielder Mike Darr in a car accident on the first day of spring training for pitchers and catchers.

San Diego finished its fourth straight losing season with a 66-96 record, its worst in a non-strike season since going 61-101 in 1993.

``It was another one of those years where we had a lot of injuries and a lot of new kids coming up,'' first baseman Ryan Klesko said. ``But on the positive side, we've seen some good young arms that have potential.'' ^Notes:@ Chin-Feng Chen, who on Sept. 14 became the first Taiwanese to appear in a major league game, batted cleanup for the Dodgers in his first start and played LF. He was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. ... Dodgers teammates Hideo Nomo and Kazuhisa Ishii were the only two pitchers in the majors this season to walk at least 100 batters. ... 2B Joe Thurston, who led all minor leaguers with 196 hits for the Dodgers' Triple-A Las Vegas club, made his first big league start on his 23rd birthday. He singled all four times up against Perez before grounding out in the ninth. ... Jordan, who got 30 of his 80 RBIs in September, is scheduled for surgery on his left knee Tuesday.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)