LOS ANGELES — Jeff Kent was like a proud parent, watching his younger teammates enjoy their first champagne celebration after the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West championship.

Just a year ago, when the Dodgers faded out of contention, Kent was critical of their efforts.

He has a much different feeling now.

"One kick that I get out of this right now standing here, is that this is a team that expected its young players to step up," Kent said in a rowdy Dodgers' clubhouse, beads of champagne dripping from his championship cap. "And to see it happen now, it's special. These kids are enjoying themselves, and most of them are going through it for the first time. And having a taste of it, this will add to their experience and exposure to what it takes to win."

Youngsters like Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andre Ethier, Blake DeWitt, Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton all played key roles in their team's success.

The Dodgers clinched their first division title in four years long before they took the field. Entering the day with a magic number of one, they got what they needed when the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks lost 12-3 at St. Louis in the afternoon.

That meant they had to wait nearly eight hours to celebrate.

"I'm very proud of this, it never gets old," first-year manager Joe Torre said. "I mean, I went through my whole career as a player never getting to the postseason. And to have happen what's happened to me over the last 13 years, it's been amazing."

Torre guided the New York Yankees to four World Series titles and 12 playoff appearances in as many years before leaving the team last fall. He was then hired by the Dodgers, signing a three-year $13 million contract.

"We don't know who we're going to play," he said. "We know we're going to play, though. That's an advantage that we didn't have yesterday. We know we're going to play, and that's the most important thing."

Torre said he received a text message of congratulations from Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin. "He's a class act," Torre said, adding that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman called as well to offer his best wishes.

Several hours later, Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez homered and Luis Rodriguez had four hits to lead San Diego to a meaningless 7-5 victory over the Dodgers in their final home game of the regular season.

And with that, the celebration began.

"It's always nice to celebrate, it doesn't matter how long you wait," infielder Nomar Garciaparra said.

Kent, whose playoff status is in question because of a sore left knee, said there were several significant factors that contributed to the division title.

"I don't want to discredit Joe (Torre) or anybody else, but it takes everybody to win," he said. "It takes Joe's decisions. It takes a kid like Blake DeWitt picking up Nomar Garciaparra when he went down at the beginning of the year. It takes that same kid to pick me up at the end of the year. It takes a pitcher like Broxton to pick up (Takashi) Saito when he goes down. It takes trades like the ones for Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez to give us a little extra offensive push."

Ramirez found out the Dodgers qualified for the playoffs from a reporter after entering an elevator to the team's clubhouse with teammate Pablo Ozuna about an hour after Arizona lost.

"It's good, but it's just the first step," said Ramirez, who has played so well since joining the Dodgers less than two months ago that there's been MVP talk. "We're happy, but we're not going to go crazy about it. The goal is to go to the big dance, the World Series.

"Not a lot of players get a chance to go to the playoffs in their career. I've been blessed. You want to win it all. That's when you get that feeling you can't describe, like we had in Boston."

The Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years in 2004, with Ramirez winning the MVP award, and won it again last year. But Ramirez wanted out a few months back, and got his wish, being sent to the Dodgers at the trade deadline.

"The sky's the limit. You never know," he said of the Dodgers' chances. "We're a pretty good team. Anything can happen."

The Dodgers have won just one postseason game since winning the World Series 20 years ago, going 1-12 in four playoff appearances. They'll face either the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies or New York Mets on the road to begin the first round next week.

The Dodgers were in trouble after losing their eighth straight game Aug. 29, a 9-3 setback at Arizona that gave the Diamondbacks a 4½-game lead in the division. But with Ramirez leading the way, they turned things around and won 18 of 23 games — including five straight over the Diamondbacks.

Ramirez is hitting .393 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs in 51 games with the Dodgers.

Torre said he watched the final inning of the Diamondbacks' loss in his office with his wife, general manager Ned Colletti and team owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.

"I'm relieved and ecstatic at the same time," Colletti said. "I'm proud of the team, proud of what they've gone through this year and how they came together the last four or five weeks. They fought through a lot of adversity."

McCourt and Dodgers executive Tom Lasorda walked through the left field pavilion during the game, shaking hands with the fans as they went.

Later, during the clubhouse celebration, McCourt was drenched by several players.

"I'm happy because of all we went through this season," he said. "It was a battle, with all the injuries. At the end of the day, this is all about the fans. They stuck with us through the entire year, and we were scuffling for a while. It was a fantastic finish."<

Notes: Jake Peavy (10-11) earned the victory, allowing three runs in five innings. Trevor Hoffman, the fifth Padres pitcher, worked a hitless ninth for his 29th save. ... Greg Maddux, scheduled to start against the Padres, was replaced by rookie left-hander Eric Stults (2-3), who allowed four hits and three runs in 4 2-3 innings. ... The game was played before a crowd of 52,569, raising the season total to 3,730,750 — the third-highest total in Dodger Stadium history.