After a winless road trip, the San Diego Padres should be happy to still be in first place.

They don't sound that way.

"If this is a test, we've failed, that's for sure," pitcher Brian Lawrence said after San Diego's 5-1 loss in Philadelphia on Sunday. "Seven (losses) in a row, it's a joke. We've got to figure something out quick. It's frustrating. We've in first place, but we're hanging by a thread."

Luckily for the Padres, they play in the NL West, where winning frequently isn't necessary to stay in the race. Just ask the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona (48-52) is just 18-30 since the end of May, yet only 21/2 games behind San Diego. The Diamondbacks gained another game Sunday by beating the Atlanta Braves 3-2 - the only victory by an NL West team in two days.

"You look at our record, and it's like the black and blue division," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "But we're lucky enough to be in it. You'll always have the excitement of being in a pennant race, as long as you don't look at the record."

The division has been so bad that teams aren't even always happy when they do gain ground. The Los Angeles Dodgers picked up three games by going 3-3 on the road against the Mets and Phillies while the Padres were going 0-6 against the same teams. They realized they could have done even better.

Los Angeles (44-54) remained 51/2 out after Sunday's 6-0 loss at Shea Stadium.

"There are two ways of looking at it. One, we're lucky we're not getting too far behind. Or, we're not taking advantage of it," pitcher Brad Penny said. "We're not taking advantage of it."

At Philadelphia, Brett Myers (8-5) allowed one run in six innings and delivered an RBI double as the Phillies completed a three-game sweep. Ryan Howard had three hits, including a run-scoring double, as Philadelphia sent San Diego to its season-high seventh straight loss.

"We've been awful and we know it," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "We're being tested. There's no getting around it. We've got to dig deep and get out of this."

The Padres are still waiting to hear if slugger Phil Nevin will accept a proposed trade to Baltimore for pitcher Sidney Ponson. Nevin, who didn't play Sunday, has until Tuesday night to make up his mind.

"I have a certain amount of time to make a decision and I'm going to use that time," Nevin said. "I want to talk about it with my family and kids. It's a tough thing to talk to them about over the phone."

Lawrence (5-10) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings.

Javier Vazquez struck out a season-high 11 in eight innings at Phoenix, and the Diamondbacks withstood a pair of home runs by Andruw Jones to win a series at home for the first time in a month.

Vazquez (9-9) allowed only three hits, but two were the 31st and 32nd home runs of the season for Jones, tying him with Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs for most in the majors.

"He was mixing his pitches very good out there," Jones said. "He just made a couple of mistakes to me, and I took them."

Horacio Ramirez (8-6) gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings for the Braves, who return home Tuesday to face Washington in the opener of a three-game series between the NL East co-leaders.

At New York, Kris Benson (7-3) gave up just four hits in eight innings as the Mets won for the sixth time in seven games and moved four over .500 (51-47) to match a season high.

Mike Piazza hit a two-run homer off Penny (5-6), who gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.

At Washington, Eric Bruntlett hit a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the 14th inning off Hector Carrasco (3-3).Russ Springer (3-3) pitched two innings for the victory, and Brad Lidge earned his 23rd save. The Astros won three of four in the series, giving them seven wins in eight games.The Nationals have lost four of five and 13 of 18.

At Cincinnati, Adam Dunn led off the ninth inning with his 28th home run on a 2-2 pitch from Julio Santana (2-4) to give the Reds their ninth victory in 13 games.David Weathers (6-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win.

At San Francisco, A.J. Burnett (7-6) homered and pitched into the eighth inning, and Miguel Cabrera connected for the third straight game.Juan Encarnacion added a two-run shot as Florida took two of three to win its first series in San Francisco since 1997. Cabrera was 7-for-10 with five RBIs and six runs in the series.Burnett hit his third career homer on the first pitch he saw from Kevin Correia (1-2) in the third.

At St. Louis, Neifi Perez hit a grand slam off Al Reyes (3-2) an inning after Chicago blew a one-run lead with two outs in the ninth, and the visiting Cubs took two of three from the NL Central leaders.

The Oakland Athletics have one of the most anonymous rosters in baseball. They also have the best team in the big leagues right now.Led by little-known players such as Mark Ellis and Dan Johnson, the A's have recovered from an awful start to surge back into the AL playoff race. They won for the 26th time in 32 tries Sunday, finishing a four-game sweep in Texas with an 8-3 victory."I'm enjoying the way the players are going at it, the fever pitch at which they're playing," manager Ken Macha said. "In this era of high-dollar players, we've played as a team and that's the fun part of it."Besides former Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito and Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez, the A's don't possess much star power. Relief pitcher Justin Duchscherer was the team's only All-Star this season.But that hasn't stopped Oakland from climbing into a tie with Minnesota for the wild-card lead after going 7-20 in May.Scott Hatteberg drove in three runs for Oakland, and Crosby and Ellis each had three hits to help the A's beat Chan Ho Park (8-5) and extend their winning streak to six. They built a 41/2-game edge over the Rangers for second place in the AL West.

At Anaheim, Calif., Mike Mussina (10-5) shut down the Angels, Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer, and New York avoided a four-game sweep.The Yankees completed a 6-5 road trip to Boston, Texas and Los Angeles. They return to New York on Tuesday night for their first homestand since the All-Star break - three games against Minnesota and three more against the Angels. The Yankees are 11/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox in the AL East and a half-game back in the wild-card race.Mariano Rivera got five outs for his 25th save in a row since blowing his first two opportunities of the season against Boston. He has saved each of New York's last eight victories.Jarrod Washburn (6-6) limited the Yankees to one hit until they got to him in the seventh.

At Chicago, Tadahito Iguchi homered and Jose Contreras (6-6) threw 116 pitches over 5 2-3 innings in sweltering heat to get the win against a team that has always given him trouble.With the game-time temperature at 100 degrees, the White Sox gained a split of the four-game series between division leaders. Iguchi hit a two-run shot off Bronson Arroyo (8-6) and finished with three RBIs. Dustin Hermanson got his 23rd save in 24 chances.David Ortiz and Jason Varitek homered for Boston.

At Detroit, Jeremy Bonderman (13-6) pitched into the ninth inning, and Curtis Granderson homered and tripled to lift the Tigers. Carlos Guillen also connected and Magglio Ordonez added three hits for the Tigers (49-49), who have reached .500 by winning 12 of 18. Minnesota has lost 11 of 18.

At St. Petersburg, Fla., Casey Fossum (5-8) took a three-hitter into the seventh inning, and Carl Crawford hit a two-run shot in the eighth as Tampa Bay finished a three-game sweep of the struggling Orioles.Sammy Sosa hit his 585th homer, moving him within one of Frank Robinson for fifth on the career list. The loss extended Baltimore's losing streak to five.

At Cleveland, Kevin Millwood (4-9) won for the first time in five July starts and Victor Martinez hit a three-run homer. Aaron Sele (6-11) dropped his sixth straight start. Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre homered for Seattle.

At Kansas City, Mo., Angel Berroa homered during a four-run fourth and D.J. Carrasco (5-4) recovered from a shaky start. Mike MacDougal got his 15th save, his 14th in a row.