" Ned Colletti talked about the possibility of trading Hiroki Kuroda for a prospect, which is about as close as the general manager has come to conceding that the Dodgers ' season is over. Ted Lilly served up two more home runs, resulting in boos from half-empty stands at Dodger Stadium.

But as the Dodgers continued to descend to irrelevance in a city in which they were once kings, Matt Kemp remained on a separate path to becoming one of the best players in baseball.

Kemp was as explosive Friday night as most of his teammates were non-threatening, driving in his team's first five runs in a 9-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, taking the National League lead with 80 runs batted in.

He belted his 25th home run in the third inning, making him the fifth-fastest NL player to hit 25 home runs and steal 25 bases in the same season.

Kemp, who has 27 steals, has played 105 games.

Willie Mays never reached the 25-25 plateau in fewer than 107 games.

The only players to get there sooner than Kemp were Eric Davis (83 games in 1987), Bobby Bonds (93 games in 1973), Alfonso Soriano (97 games in 2006) and Howard Johnson (99 games in 1989)."