By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Brett Myers, a 22-year-old right-hander making his 17th big-league start, allowed six hits in 7 2-3 innings Monday night as the Philadelphia Phillies opened a 10-game road trip by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0.

Jim Thome homered and David Bell had three hits and drove in a run for the Phillies one day after Kevin Millwood pitched baseball's first no-hitter in exactly one year in a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

"I think anybody gets inspired by that, it was awesome," Myers said. "You can't follow that up. I was just trying to give my team a chance to win."

Myers has been successful at that in each of his five starts this year, pitching six or more innings in each outing. He has 31 strikeouts in 32 2-3 innings.

"I know Millwood's been in his ear since the first day of spring training," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said.

"We talk a lot," Millwood said. "We don't always talk about pitch selection, things like that. We talk a little bit more about preparing.

"I take no credit for what he's done. He's worked his butt off. He's done a great job every time out. He's one of those guys who can boost us up to the top of the division."

Myers struck out four and walked none in his longest stint of the season as the Phillies won for the sixth time in seven games.

He was relieved by Dan Plesac after Alex Cora and Paul Lo Duca hit two-out singles in the eighth. Plesac induced Shawn Green to ground into a force play to end the inning.

Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances. He allowed two-out singles to pinch hitter Ron Coomer and Jolbert Cabrera before retiring pinch-hitter Todd Hundley on a grounder to second.

The loss snapped a season-high three-game winning streak for the Dodgers.

Darren Dreifort (1-3) was the hard-luck loser, allowing six hits and two runs in seven innings while walking one and striking out 11 to match his career high.

Dreifort missed half of the 2001 season and all of last year after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his pitching elbow - his second such operation.

"Dreifort to me was the Dreifort of old," Bowa said. "We were lucky to get any runs off him."

Dreifort said he was pretty erratic the first few innings before settling down.

"I'm still learning as I go," he said. "I made an adjustment on my arm slot."

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said it might have been Dreifort's best outing as a big-leaguer.

The Phillies scored in the first when Dreifort fielded Pat Burrell's potential inning-ending double-play grounder and threw it into center field, allowing Jimmy Rollins to score from third. Rollins opened the game with a double.

Dreifort retired the next nine batters before Thome hit his fourth homer into the left field pavilion in the fourth.

"With the exception of that pitch, they just couldn't hit him," Tracy said.

The Phillies got their final run in the eighth off Guillermo Mota on back-to-back doubles by Mike Lieberthal and Bell.

The Dodgers loaded the bases in the third although Myers threw only six pitches. Cabrera and Cesar Izturis hit first-pitch singles and Dreifort sacrificed on the first pitch. Cora was hit by Myers' second pitch before Lo Duca grounded into an inning-ending double play on the first pitch.

The Dodgers didn't have another baserunner until Lo Duca's two-out infield hit in the sixth.

Notes

Dodgers outfielders Brian Jordan and Dave Roberts missed the game - Roberts because of a strained right hamstring and Jordan with the flu. Both are day to day. ... Millwood celebrated his no-hitter after arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday night, sharing a bottle of champagne with Myers, Thome, pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and former RHP Larry Andersen, now a Phillies broadcaster. ... The opposition has scored first in each of the Dodgers' last 11 games. ... The Phillies are six games over .500 for the first time since the last day of the 2001 season, when they were 86-76. ... Dreifort struck out the side in the sixth, fanning Bobby Abreu, Burrell and Thome, the Phillies' 3-4-5 hitters. ... Dreifort struck out 11 for the first time on Aug. 30, 2000, at Milwaukee. ... Fifteen Phillies struck out, with Thome and Abreu fanning three times each. ... Cora extended his hitting streak to nine games. ... The Phillies optioned INF Nick Punto to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre after the game. Bowa said OF Marlon Byrd will be activated before Tuesday night's game.