Sampling Easternmost in quality - Down by six games in West, L.A. visits Philadelphia and New York, the East's top two, starting tonight. It may not be must-win, but there's still plenty of pressure.

However, with six consecutive games against the Phillies and Mets, it's the National League East pennant race the Dodgers find themselves in the middle of. Getting back into the thick of the race in the NL West will require a bit more work -- and for Manager Grady Little, there's little time left to waste.

"We don't have a choice. We have to win games right now," he said. "And we have to win more than our share. That's what you have to do when you fall six games back."

Actually it was 6 1/2 entering Monday, only one game better than the biggest deficit they've faced all season. But first-place Arizona's loss Monday night trimmed the deficit back to six, and with four wins in their last five games and coming off their first winning homestand since mid-June, the Dodgers feel they're finally headed in the right direction.

The question now is, is it too late? The Dodgers have only 38 games left in which to make up that deficit and they'll have to climb over at least two teams to do it.

Their task in the wild-card race isn't much easier. Although they're only 2 1/2 games off the lead there, they trail three teams -- and lead two others by one game or less.

"Every game we have to win," reliever Rudy Seanez said. "We can't be so relaxed that we're waiting for someone to lose. We have to win."

But just don't call these must-win games, warns second baseman Jeff Kent. Three years ago, he played for a Houston team that began a mid-August trip through New York and Philadelphia under .500 and 17 1/2 games behind in the NL Central race. But the Astros rallied to win their final seven games and nine of their last 10 to clinch the wild-card berth on the last day of the season.

The Dodgers did much the same thing last September, winning their final seven and nine of their last 10 to tie San Diego atop the NL West and beat out the Phillies for the wild card.

"We were left for dead and we came back," Kent said of those Astros. "And we aren't there here. . . . To lie to the fans and to lie to ourselves and say these are must-win [games], they're not. That's added pressure that you don't need. You've just got to be able to keep it under control and know that all these games -- not just this road trip -- but all these games are going to be important."