LOS ANGELES — The concept of a pennant race no longer exists in baseball, with six teams in each league making the postseason. But there’s still such a thing as a pennant race atmosphere, and maybe that environment at Dodger Stadium is enough to snap the home team out of its funk.

I mean, something’s got to help, right?

Then again, the Dodgers had another weapon in the series opener against the San Diego Padres, a mid-August game that was magnified in importance because they had spit up a nine-game lead in 41 days and found themselves looking up at the Padres in the standings.

Enter Clayton Kershaw. He might no longer be the unquestioned ace, but he acted the part when his team needed it most in a 3-2 victory on Friday night that again evened the NL West race . He went six innings,

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