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Nomar is back in time

In his last season with the Boston Red Sox, through a short stint with the Chicago Cubs, and even this year in Los Angeles playing for the Dodgers, Nomar Garciaparra has been plagued with injuries that either kept him off the field entirely or just bothered his game. Such was his July performance, bothered by a sore left quadriceps. But Sunday, for the second time in 7 days, the Dodgers` first baseman hit a walk-off homer.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the bases loaded, Nomar`s grand slam off a 2-1 pitch gave the Dodgers a 5-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks and kept their hopes alive in their chase for playoff berth. The Dodgers remain a half-game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race. "I tried to get a good pitch, was able to get one. I`m just glad and thankful I was able to do this,`` said Garciaparra, whose homer was his 19th of the season.

Last Monday night, Garciaparra hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to give Los Angeles an 11-10 victory over San Diego after the Dodgers matched a major league record by hitting four consecutive homers in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. Nomar, like his team, is proving resilient at this critical time of the season. Will it be enough? With a 49-32 home record, their best at Dodger Stadium since 1991, their remaining six games are all on the road, but the wild card is within reach. Nomar can feel it.