MLB.com: Valentin hits 2 R HR

PHOENIX -- The last time Elmer Dessens started a game for the Dodgers they clinched the division title by erasing a three-run deficit in the ninth inning.

They went back to that magical formula Friday night with Dessens making another emergency start and his club rallying for another stunning victory.

It didn't have quite the historic impact as Steve Finley's walk-off home run to eliminate the Giants last year, but Jose Valentin's two-out, two-run pinch-homer on an 0-2 pitch capped a wild 8-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that put the Dodgers alone atop the division again.
MLB.com: Turnaround for Valentin

SAN FRANCISCO -- The baseball gods Wednesday night balanced the books for Jose Valentin, as he knew they would, which is why he kept his cool while the media fired away after his crushing error Tuesday.

"You take the bad with the good," he said before Wednesday night's game. "There will be more good days than bad."

It was good for Valentin in this game, a 10-4 Dodgers victory over the Giants. The new third baseman, redefining the definition of switch-hitter, slugged a three-run homer and an RBI triple in a 14-hit attack that included three hits and three RBIs from Olmedo Saenz, who was robbed of a fourth hit on an umpire's call.