Pitching still a concern in victory for Dodgers

Dodger Stadium was a house of illusions Thursday.

The Dodgers ended the first month of their season with an 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres to extend their lead in the National League West to 3 1/2 games and become the only team in the division with a record better than .500.

Meanwhile, the club’s public relations department was spreading word of the opening of “Mannywood,” the two sections in the left-field corner that were made special overnight with the issuing of a news release. And the club sent out another release announcing that the ballpark and its associated property would get its own 90090 postal code in June.

But the creation of imaginary places, the scoring of the go-ahead run on a hideous defensive gaffe by the Padres and blasting of home runs by Manny Ramirez and Orlando Hudson failed to conceal the problem that was on the collective mind of the Dodgers’ baseball brain trust: pitching.

In the hours leading up to the first pitch of a season-long 11-game homestand, management essentially conceded that the bullpen was in trouble. The number of pitchers on the 25-man roster was increased to 13, as Jeff Weaver was promoted from the minors and Cory Wade was activated from the disabled list.

“I don’t know how long we’ll go with 13 pitchers,” Manager Joe Torre said. “It’s ideal to have 12.”

Torre declared the moves necessary, noting that he didn’t want to overtax any single reliever, a concern that probably arose from the observation that ace Chad Billingsley and veteran Randy Wolf are the only members of the rotation who can be counted on to pitch deep into games.

Neither of them pitched Thursday and it showed.

The Dodgers got even less out of James McDonald than they did the previous night out of Eric Stults, as McDonald once again succumbed to problems with command that are said to be uncharacteristic for him.

McDonald lasted only 1 2/3 innings -- Stults pitched 2 2/3 in the final game of their nine-game trip -- and was charged with three runs, two hits and four walks.

Weaver was immediately called upon to start earning the pro-rated share of his $500,000 contract. He pitched well, tossing four scoreless innings to ensure that whatever damage was inflicted by Ramirez and Co. would count for something.

“We know we have that firepower that we have no game that we’re out of,” Torre said. “The fact of the matter is, if we can get any kind of pitching, we feel we’re in every game.”

Ramirez, who will earn about 50 times more than Weaver this season, doubled in the first inning to right-center and scored on a single by Andre Ethier to put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0. His solo home run in the third inning, which immediately followed a two-run shot by Hudson, reclaimed the lead for the Dodgers at 4-3.

The lead was blown in the seventh inning, when Will Ohman and Ronald Belisario combined to give up a pair of runs that put the Padres ahead, 5-4.

But the Padres had bullpen problems of their own.

Luke Gregerson gave up three singles to start the seventh, the third a blooper to center by Mark Loretta that knocked in Matt Kemp to tie the score, 5-5.

Hudson then singled sharply to right, and third base coach Larry Bowa initially held Casey Blake at third, but Blake went home to score the go-ahead run when Padres catcher Nick Hundley let a throw by Brian Giles go to the backstop.

The Dodgers scored two more runs in the eighth off Edward Mujica, setting up a comfortable save opportunity for Jonathan Broxton, who closed out his seventh game with three strikeouts.

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