The contrast was clear again Wednesday night, as Perez watched Sele cruise through seven scoreless innings of another quality start, the Dodgers beating Colorado, 7-1, to complete another perfect series on a perfect homestand.

The win streak is now seven as the Dodgers hit the road, their first 6-0 homestand in 12 years, complete with each win one-sided. With the most potent offense in the league and a starting rotation one-upping each other, the Dodgers outscored the Angels and Rockies, 52-10, while the team ERA was 1.33.

"They're hot right now, a very good baseball team," Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins said. "I don't think they made a mistake all series long. It seemed like they were always getting two-out RBIs."

Rookie Russell Martin doubled in three runs in the seventh inning to turn the game into a blowout, but more on him later. The reason the Dodgers offense has been so successful while winning 15 of their last 18 is that the entire lineup contributes and the scoring is relentless.

That means even Rafael Furcal and Jeff Kent, the leadoff and cleanup hitters who struggled so badly in April, have joined in the fun. Each had three hits in this game, Kent driving in a pair of runs.

The only cause for concern was Kenny Lofton pulling up when his left hamstring twinged while trying to leg out a chopper in the eighth inning, but he said he backed off in time and expects to play Friday night in Washington.

"You go through a lot of peaks and valleys during the season and right now we're at the top of one of our peaks," said manager Grady Little. "We'll just try to stay up there as long as we can."

The win raised Sele's record to 3-0 and his ERA to 1.69 in four starts. He was taken off the scrap heap in the winter, had little chance to make the club once Jae Seo was acquired and started the season at Triple-A, even though he had more Major League wins than any pitcher in the clubhouse at Vero Beach.

After teaching a pitching lesson to the kids in the Pacific Coast League, he took the spot in the rotation owned for four years by Perez, who collects his $10 million salary and has pitched one whole inning in the last three weeks. With every winning start by Sele, Perez's chances of reclaiming his job slip further from slim and closer to none.

"It feels bad, real bad, but I understand a little," said Perez, who lost his job because of a 6.97 ERA. "The guy [Sele] has done real well. Right now, the team is winning, everybody's playing very good. I don't know what I've done for them to be doing this to me, but for now they don't need me. I want to contribute. I don't want to be sitting here as the days go and just be satisfied with the money. I want to pitch."

Sele knows the feeling. He became a forgotten man too, with the Angels in 2004, and it sent his career to the fringes. Last year he was released by Seattle and Texas.

"When it happened to me with the Angels, you just want to go out and do what you know how to do, but it's out of your hands," said Sele. "All you can do is stay prepared and be ready to pitch when you're called upon. You want to stay positive. He [Perez] has been very positive around here."

Which is exactly the approach the 35-year-old Sele took when he was sent to Triple-A Las Vegas at the start of the season. While there, he learned a lot about the 23-year-old Martin, who has since taken over behind the plate for the injured Dioner Navarro and just might have taken the job permanently.

Although Sele allowed only three hits and struck out five against the Rockies, he gave a lot more of the credit to Martin than he took for himself.

"The great thing about Russell is that he's like a sponge, he listens to what the pitchers want and he absorbs everything and puts it into action," said Sele. "He wants to catch a winning ballgame. He's been phenomenal."

The respect is mutual. "On the mound, he's got great command," said Martin. "He has varieties of fastballs, throwing a little cutter that looks like a fastball coming out of his hand but it moves and the hitter thinks it's straight. He puts the ball right in my glove. That's what pitching is really all about. He's crafty, like Greg Maddux. You don't have to throw hard to be a good pitcher.

"And he's a class act. He's got to be one of the best guys in baseball. He always has a good attitude. He talks about his family. He seems like a really great guy."