HOUSTON — It's become something of a ritual lately with the Los Angeles Dodgers, with every piece of good news tempered by bad news.

One night they get no-hit, for example, which is bad news. But they still win, which is good news. Another night they blow a five-run lead in the span of three outs, which is bad news. But they come back to win in extra innings, which is good news.

And so it went Wednesday night, when right-hander Hiroki Kuroda came off the disabled list to throw seven shutout innings at the Houston Astros in a 4-1 win that moved the Dodgers to within 1 1/2 games of the National League West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, the closest they've been to first place since early April.

Only that became nothing more than the silver lining on the black cloud which began descending on the Dodgers in the third inning. That's when trainer Stan Conte gave Manager Joe Torre the bad news that sparkplug shortstop Rafael Furcal will undergo back surgery Thursday. And with less than three months left in the season, there's no guarantee he'll play again this year.

"Just from all the numbers that I've heard, I think it's probably a minimum of eight weeks," Torre said.

It's already been that long since Furcal, the team's offensive leader, played in a major league game. He went on the disabled list May 6, and though he appeared close to coming back several times since, he lasted just four innings in a minor-league rehab game Monday before waking in pain again Tuesday.

So with rest, massage and exercises obviously not getting the job done, Dr. Robert Watkins, who examined Furcal on Wednesday, elected to perform a microdiscectomy on the player's lower left back Thursday morning. In most cases, the procedure involves the removal of a small portion of the bone over the nerve root to relieve pressure.

"It's a blow. But it's reality," said Torre, whose team was four games over .500 and averaging nearly 5 1/2 runs a game with Furcal in the lineup They're 22-30 and scoring two fewer runs per game without him.