LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers signed Luis Gonzalez hoping for walk-off hits like the one he delivered Saturday night, only hoping those hits would clinch something more substantial than just a winning record.

His RBI pinch-single with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the Dodgers a 6-5 win over the Giants, the 82nd win of a year in which many more were expected.

So it was a bittersweet moment for Gonzalez in a year more bitter than sweet. He knows the club considered him a one-year stopgap in the outfield until Matt Kemp was ready, so this hit could be his last with the Dodgers.

"There were high expectations, and it's been a disappointment," said Gonzalez. "It's been a weird year for a lot of us. Those guys will re-evaluate the team and a lot of us will move on and continue playing baseball. We have guys people say can't play anymore, but others will say we can help teams out."

To whatever extent the Dodgers clubhouse was split along the lines of age, it's no secret in which camp the 40-year-old Gonzalez was. He doesn't dispute that the statistics of veterans like he and Nomar Garciaparra were disappointing in the first half, but he points out that the Dodgers were winning in spite of it. In the second half, he said he struggled with the time-sharing plan employed in the outfield by manager Grady Little.

"I'm a competitor," he said. "A lot of times, people see us as selfish, that we don't want the young kids to play. That's not true. We just want to win. Guys can hit .330, and it doesn't mean you win. When we struggled, I just wish they would have stayed with us. We would have found a way to fix it. We know the numbers weren't there, but we were winning games. We're good players, we'd find a way. I just feel like the gameplan wasn't to everyone's knowledge. The lineups were different, and it makes it hard for everybody."

Gonzalez said he often listens to the postgame radio shows and hears the passion of Dodgers fans who have taken to the young players.

"They see how energetic the kids are, and the old guys are more low-key," he said. "I believe we might not look good, but we got the job done. In 2001 in Arizona, we had the oldest team in the league, but we got the job done."

Fittingly, while Gonzalez got the winning hit, Kemp factored in the game throughout. He had two doubles and a single, drove in a run and threw out Kevin Frandsen at the plate. Juan Pierre drove in three runs and Russell Martin slugged his 19th home run, although after the game he was still beating himself up over striking out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. He also had a bloody lip after taking a bite out of a pitch he fouled off the plate.

Andy LaRoche and Chin-Lung Hu had two hits and scored two runs apiece. LaRoche scored the winning run after his infield single and Hu's sacrifice.

Takashi Saito pitched two innings and was credited with the victory long after Chad Billingsley's shortest start of the season. Billingsley lasted only 1 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks.

"Not exactly how I wanted to finish it," Billingsley said of his first full season in the Major Leagues. "My body held up well over the whole year compared to last year, when I pulled my oblique. I feel I improved a lot with my command."

Mark Hendrickson was the unsung hero, taking over for Billingsley and allowing only a solo home run to Dan Ortmeier over 4 2/3 innings. It was the only run allowed by the Dodgers bullpen over 8 2/3 innings of relief.