INQUIRER Sports

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the San Diego Padres Thursday, but had plenty to celebrate after a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks assured them of the National League West title.

The Padres, buoyed by Brian Giles's two-run homer and a home run from Adrian Gonzalez, beat the Dodgers 7-5.

Matt Kemp hit his 18th home run in the eighth for the Dodgers, who fell behind 4-0, rallied, but finally came up short.

Hours before that game started, however, the Dodgers knew they had the division crown.

Joe Torre, whose former team the New York Yankees have been eliminated from postseason contention for the first time since 1993, is headed to the playoffs for the 13th straight season as the first-year manager of the Dodgers.

Torre's return to the postseason became official when the St. Louis Cardinals pummelled the Diamondbacks 12-3.

The Dodgers nabbed their first NL West title since 2004.

Torre guided the Yankees to the playoffs in all 12 of his seasons in the Bronx, but rejected an incentive-laden contract offer from the team following New York's third straight first-round exit last year.

The Dodgers battled injuries all season, losing shortstop Rafael Furcal, former ace Brad Penny and closer Takashi Saito for long stretches.

They also had little contribution from free agent acquisition Andruw Jones.

But they benefited from playing in the weakest division in the major leagues.

The Dodgers were under .500 as late as September 2, and will still probably have the worst record of the eight playoff teams.

The Dodgers did get a big boost when they acquired Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline.

Ramirez, a disruptive presence in Boston who gave the Red Sox little choice but to ship him out, has been on his best behavior and best form in California.

In 50 games with the Dodgers, Ramirez is batting .398 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI.

Dodgers hopes looked slim when an eight-game skid left them five games under .500 and 4 1/2 behind Arizona on August 29.

But they won five straight against the Diamondbacks as part of a spate of 12 wins in 13 games, seizing first place on September 6.