Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 1

The Dodgers take the rubber match of the weekend series to win the series and extend their winning streak to two games.

Derek Lowe got the win, he's 11-11. Brandon Webb took the loss, he's 19-6.

Derek Lowe pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits and a walk while striking out two. Scott Elbert gave up a solo homerun in an inning of work, but struck out the side. Cory Wade struck out one while pitching a scoreless 8th inning. Jonathan Broxton struck out the side in the 9th.

Offensively, the Dodgers plated eight runs on 12 hits and seven walks. James Loney went 3-5. Andre Ethier went 2-5, with a double, a homerun, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Casey Blake went 1-4, with a homerun, three RBIs, and a run scored. Overall, three different Dodgers knocked in runs, and five players scored at least one run.

With the win, the Dodgers move to 2.5 games back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West race. The Dodgers start a three game series at home versus the San Diego Padres tomorrow at 5:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the win, the Dodgers get back to three games under .500 (67-70)... With James Loney's three hits in the game, he extended his hitting streak to 11 games... Andre Ethier's homerun was his 18th, good for first place on the Dodgers.

Opinion: Really good to see the Dodgers pick up two victories against the Diamondbacks' two best pitchers. The hitting might be starting to come around. The Dodgers scored 14 runs in the last two games (both wins). During their eight game losing streak, they scored a total of 15 runs. This is good, but we have to keep it up. The matchup for this week's series against the Padres looks good. We won't face Jake Peavy, so that's always a plus. We should be able to win at least two of the three games. That said, we sometimes have issues winning games we should win. Let's hope for the best.

Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 2

The Dodgers snap their eight game losing streak by beating the Diamondbacks in the second game of this three game series.

Chad Billingsley got the win, he's 13-10. Dan Haren took the loss, he's 14-7.

Chad Billingsley had a strong pitching performance. He went seven innings, giving up just two runs on nine hits and two walks, while striking out six. Hong-Chih Kuo struck out five batters in his two innings of relief while giving up just one hit.

Offensively, the Dodgers didn't quite fix the runners in scoring position issue, but drove in enough runs today that it didn't matter. Four of the Dodgers' six runs today came on homeruns (the other two coming on a fielder's choice/error kind of situation). Manny Ramírez had his second consecutive four hit game. He went 4-5, with two homeruns, a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Matt Kemp went 2-5, with a homerun, a stolen base, two RBIs, and two runs scored. James Loney, Casey Blake, and Ángel Berroa all collected two hits as well.

With the win, the Dodgers move back to within 3.5 games of the Diamondbacks. They'll try to win the rubber match of the series tomorrow at 5:05 L.A. time.

Also: Chad Billingsley's 13th win today puts him first on the team... Matt Kemp's stolen base today give him 30 on the season... With James Loney's two hits today, he extended his hitting streak to 10 games... The win today puts the Dodgers back at four games under .500 (66-70).

Opinion: It feels good to win a game after so long. We've only done it once in the past week and a half. The Dodgers drove in six runs, their most since August 17th. Though, despite that, they still managed to leave 17 runners on base today. That means we still haven't quite fixed that whole not being able to hit with runners in scoring position thing. Today, we managed our runs on homeruns, but this team isn't really a homerun hitting team. We can't expect to out-slug the other team every night. While I'm still worried about our issue of timely hitting, I'll gladly take this win. Now how 'bout we do this again tomorrow. I could get used to this winning thing...

Diamondbacks 9, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers' struggles continue as they lose the first game in this weekend series, and their eighth game in a row.

Doug Davis got the win, he's 6-8. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 7-10.

Hiroki Kuroda went five innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on four base hits, a walk, and four strikeouts. Scott Elbert made his big league debut striking out two batters before giving up a walk and being pulled for Chan Ho Park. Park proceeded to get out of the inning before surrendering four runs (three earned) in the following inning. Two of those runs were driven in on hits given up by Joe Beimel, who relieved Park. Beimel finished the inning, though, without giving up any runs of his own. Jason Johnson gave up a run in his inning of work that followed.

The Dodgers struggled again to drive in runs. 15 runners got on base (12 hits and three walks) and the Dodgers ended up leaving 15 runners on base in the game. Manny Ramírez had a good game. He went 4-4, with a walk, two doubles, a stolen base, and two runs scored. Andre Ethier went 2-5, with a double, two stolen bases, and a run scored. Six other Dodgers also collected a hit.

With the loss, the Dodgers fall to 4.5 games behind the Diamondbacks in the NL West race. The second game of the series starts tomorrow at 5:10 L.A. time.

Also: James Loney did collect a RBI in the game, bringing him up to a team-leading 73 RBIs... Nomar Garciaparra committed two errors in the game, leading to three unearned runs... With the loss, the Dodgers fall to five games under .500 (65-70).

Opinion: It's not looking good, and it's getting uglier. We couldn't beat Doug Davis today. We are going to be facing two much better pitchers tomorrow and Sunday. We aren't hitting. And now, surprisingly, we've stopped pitching. In the last eight days, the Diamondbacks scored more than four runs only once. They scored nine today. We aren't even getting much defense. Three unearned runs today, coming off the game two days ago where the Dodger defense allowed two unearned runs. I mean, yeah, realistically, I wasn't expecting to sweep the Diamondbacks in this series, but I felt if there was one game we should win, it really should have been today... Five games under .500 is worse than we've been in a long time. Much like last year around this time, you can feel the season is starting to slip away. It's not a good feeling. It does make you wonder, though, if trading away all those prospects to get a certain few veterans to make a playoff push with a team that might not have been ready for that was such a good idea ...my bad, I said I wasn't going to think about the future. For now, I'll just worry about the present. Though it ain't looking to good.

Nationals 11, Dodgers 2

The Nationals out hit and out pitch the Dodgers to complete their three game sweep and continue the Dodgers' seven game losing streak.

John Lannan got the win, he's 8-12. Clayton Kershaw took the loss, he's 2-5.

Clayton Kershaw had his shortest outing of the season. He went 2 and 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out two. He's had two consecutive pretty bad starts, it's possible he's starting to tire. The bullpen didn't help much. Ramon Troncoso gave up three runs in three innings. Cory Wade gave up a run in his one inning of work, his first game since coming of the DL. Joe Beimel gave up two runs in his inning of work.

The Dodgers continued to not hit. They only left 10 runners on base today, but that's because they got nine runners on base. Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored. Manny Ramírez went 1-4 with a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored. Other than that, there were a few assorted hits and walks, nothing much of note.

With Arizona not playing today, the Dodgers loss kicked them down another half-game. They now sit at 3.5 games out of first in the NL West race coming into this very big weekend series in Arizona. The first game of that series starts tomorrow at 6:40 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall to four games under .500 (65-69)... Cristian Guzmán, of the Washington Nationals, went 4-5, and hit for a cycle.

Opinion: Wow. A sweep by the Nationals. Do you want to know who the Nationals have swept this year? They swept Atlanta at home in a two game series in April. They swept the Seattle Mariners (who are as bad as they are) in June. And they swept the only slightly better Cincinnati Reds at home earlier in August. The Dodgers now join that list of shame. This is really bad... And the truly amazing thing about all of this? We are 3.5 games out of first place. I mean, if for some crazy reason we suddenly turn it around and sweep the Diamondbacks this weekend, we are a 1/2 game out of first place. A 1/2 game! Not that we are guaranteed to sweep (or even win one game for that matter), but just by comparison, if we were in the NL Central, we'd be 18.5 games out of first place. I mean, I honestly don't know what to do. It's hard to remain optimistic when we are playing so badly, but it's hard to call it a season when we are only 3.5 games out of first place with a month to go.

Nationals 5, Dodgers 4

The Dodgers go down in the second game of the series, and now find themselves in a six game losing streak.

Tim Redding got the win, he's 9-8. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 6-11. Joel Hanrahan picked up his 6th save.

Greg Maddux went 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk. Defense was more Maddux's undoing. An error Maddux committed led to two runs, and an error from Jeff Kent led to another. Chan Ho Park gave up a homerun in his one inning of work. Jonathan Broxton struck out the side (all swinging) in the 8th inning.

Offensively, Andre Ethier had a good game. He went 3-5 with two doubles and a homerun, scoring one run and driving in one. James Loney went 3-5 as well. He also had a double and a homerun, and also had one run scored and one RBI. Casey Blake went 2-3, with a walk, two RBIs, and a run scored. One of those two RBIs and the run scored came on a homerun.

The San Diego Padres completed their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, so the Dodgers will remain three games back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Nationals starting tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall to three games under .500 (65-68)... Andre Ethier's homerun was his 17th, good for first on the team... James Loney also drove in his team leading 72nd run.

Opinion: The Dodgers left another 20 runners on base in today's game, though they did, amazingly, get a hit with runners in scoring position. The four runs they drove in today were the most amount of runs they've scored in a game in the last 10 days. Four runs are better than we've been playing, but still not enough. Then again, we only scored four runs today because we hit three solo homeruns, which we can't expect to do every night. I'm starting to wonder if at this point, it's gotten into the players' heads. They must know how bad they are hitting with runners in scoring position. I wouldn't be surprised if they go up to the plate with runners on, and with some added pressure to hit with runners on, they get pull-happy and end up hitting into some easy outs. I mean, really, a team can't be this bad at driving in runs. It has to be a mental thing right?... Again, the only silver lining I can find in all this is that Arizona is playing awful as well. They are now on three games over .500. The issue now, though, is that Colorado is approaching quickly. They are currently playing, but if they win today, they'll pull within two games of us for second, and within five games of first. This really shouldn't be a three team race (though it really shouldn't be a two team race)... In any case, playing this bad hurts. I'm starting to forget what winning feels like. We've only done it once in the past week and a half. If you really want a good example of how bad we are playing, here's tomorrow's preview again: "The Dodgers will try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Nationals starting tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time." This ain't good...

Nationals 2, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers lose the first game in the three game series to the Nationals, and have now lost five in a row.

Collin Balester got the win, he's 3-6. Derek Lowe took the loss, he's 10-11. Joel Hanrahan picked up his 5th save.

Derek Lowe didn't deserve his loss today. He went eight innings, giving up just two runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out six and getting 13 groundball outs. He pitched the "Losing Away Pitcher's Complete Game," meaning if the away team is losing, the away team's pitchers will only pitch eight innings total. Well, Lowe pitched all eight innings, hence... I think you get it.

The hitting was again the issue, though not as bad as yesterday's game. Still, we had 13 hitters reach base today (seven hits, four walks, and two hit batsmen), and we were we only able to collect one run. That run, by the way, came on a fluke-y force play. Matt Kemp hit a grounder to 3rd with the bases loaded. The force out was recorded at 3rd, so Nomar Garciaparra, who was on 3rd and had broken for home could not be forced out at the plate. He then proceeded to sneak home behind the catcher's back and score the Dodgers' only run. Manny Ramírez had three hits including a double (going 3-4), James Loney had a hit and a walk (going 1-3), and Casey Blake went 1-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.

The Diamondbacks lost again today, so the Dodgers will remain three games back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to end this losing streak tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall to two games under .500 (65-67).

Opinion: The thing I kept telling myself through that Phillies series was: "At least we play bad teams the rest of the year." Now, here is where my mistake was. I forgot that if we don't start hitting, there's no guarantee we will even win a series the rest of the year. Another 22 runners left on base today. That brings the three day total to 74 runners left on base the last three games (22+27+25). And we've scored a grand total of three runs over that span. How long can this continue? I can start to feel the season slipping away. This is getting to be eerily reminiscent of last year. The team just stopped playing. It just stopped winning. The Washington Nationals are the worst, I'll repeat... THE WORST TEAM IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. They are one of the worst hitting teams in the majors, their pitching is in the bottom 10 of all of baseball, and they have record that's worse than any other team in the league. There is no way around it. They are the worst team in all of baseball! And they just beat us. They outplayed us. The Phillies you can maybe understand. They are a playoff contender in the hunt. The Nationals have nothing to play for. And quite frankly, they only scored two runs. Two runs! That's a score that's practically asking to be beat. But we couldn't do it. Another 22 runners left stranded. I mean, at some point, it just becomes comedic. ...although at that point, that means you've given up and there's nothing left to do but laugh...

You know who's got to be frustrated with all this? Maybe more than us? The Diamondbacks. They've now lost their second game in a row to the San Diego Padres, who are the 2nd worst team in the majors. I mean, we are slumping bad, but for them, they keep looking back at this team that has been on their tails for the whole year, and we've now lost seven of our last eight games, and they've only picked up three games on us ...and that third game was Saturday. We've been giving them quite a chance to get some daylight between us and them and they are blowing it. And I guess that's my silver lining. That's pretty much the only good thing I've taken from the last several days. I mean, not that it means much. If the season ends today, they still make the playoffs and we don't. But I guess it's good to know that at least we aren't the only ones who are sucking. Misery does love company...

Phillies 5, Dodgers 0

The Dodgers fail to score any runs and are unable to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Phillies.

Brett Myers got the win, he's 7-10. Chad Billingsley took the loss, he's 12-10.

Chad Billingsley made a "quality start." He went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and five walks, while striking out three. Chan Ho Park allowed two runs in the inning he worked. Tanyon Sturtze then pitched a scoreless 8th.

Offensively, the Dodgers had another difficult night at the plate. Not hit wise, though. Overall, they collected 13 hits and three walks. Matt Kemp went 3-4 with two doubles and a walk. Russell Martin went 3-4, Andre Ethier went 2-5, and Ángel Berroa went 2-5. The problem, though, was that not run was scored.

The Diamondbacks lost to the Padres, so the Dodgers are fortunate to remain only three games back in the NL West. They will start a three game series in Washington tomorrow at 4:10 L.A. time.

Also: With the loss today, the Dodgers fall under .500 (64-65).

Opinion: So... today was even worse than yesterday. Yesterday, they had 19 runners, but at least they managed to get two runs across the plate. 16 runners today, and not one run. Yesterday, they left 25 runners on base. Today: 27. I'm a little confused. Maybe it was acquiring Greg Maddux that brought on some bad voodoo or something, but apparently, somewhere between August 17th's 7-5 win over Milwaukee and August 19th's 3-8 loss to Colorado, we forgot how to drive in runs. We've played seven games since August 18th. Here are the run totals: 3,3,3,1,2,2,0. We are 1-6 over that span, and that is only because the Dodgers were able to hold the Rockies to one run on August 21st. We are going in the wrong direction at the wrong time of the season. I'm not ready to freak out and pull the plug on the season. We haven't been hitting this past week, but I'm pretty sure it's just a slump. The bats can come around. The pitching should stay solid. And I'm holding out hope, because we play only six games against a team over .500 the rest of the season, and that would be two series against Arizona. We can win in this last month and change. We can win the NL West, especially because as bad as we've been playing, Arizona isn't playing that much better (three losses in their last four games). We can get to the playoffs. We can do all that, we'd just better be playing stronger by the time we get there.

Phillies 5, Dodgers 2 (11 innings)

The Dodgers blew a 9th inning lead, then lost in extra innings to fall for their third straight game.

Chad Durbin got the win, he's 5-2. Joe Beimel took the loss, he's 4-1.

Hiroki Kuroda made a good start for the Dodgers. He went six innings, giving up just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out five. Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo followed with a scoreless inning of relief each. Jonathan Broxton came in to pitch the 9th and struggled with command. He gave up the tying run to force the game into extra innings. Joe Beimel pitched a scoreless 10th inning, and started the 11th by allowing a runner on base. Jason Johnson came in to relieve Beimel, but walked a batter. He followed that by getting two outs, before giving up a walk-off three run homerun.

The Dodgers, despite collecting 13 hits and five walks, still managed to score only two runs. Jeff Kent went 3-5 with a RBI, Andre Ethier went 1-4 with two walks and two runs scored, and James Loney went 2-5 with a RBI. Those were three most noteworthy hitting performances in the game.

The Diamondbacks also lost their game, so no ground will be changed in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to avoid the four game sweep in tomorrow's game, starting at 4:05 L.A. time.

Also: The Phillies used 20 different players in the game, the Dodgers used 18... With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to .500 (65-65).

Opinion: Just another bad game for the Dodgers. Where in the last two games, we struggled to get runners on base (yesterday, the Dodgers scored two runs with only five runners getting on base.), today we had 19 runners reach base (13 hits, five walks, and a HBP), yet the issue of scoring runs still remained. The Dodgers left 25 runners on base today. We had more than enough chances today to put the game away. We had bases loaded and no outs in the 1st inning and managed to score only one run. We had bases loaded and no outs again in the 10th inning, and didn't even manage a run. We just aren't hitting. When we first acquired Manny Ramírez we had an increase in offense. We started playing well. There was some life in the team. Yet, in this last week, that's all seemed to disappear. We've lost three in a row and five of our last six, and we now find ourselves playing .500 baseball again. In fact, since Manny has arrived, we are 11-11. I said it when we got Manny. It doesn't matter how good Manny is, he can't carry a team. The rest of the team has stopped hitting (or at least driving in runs). That isn't to say Manny is doing much better (he has only five hits in his last 20 at-bats and no RBIs since August 17th). Sorry, I'm wandering a little. The point is, we aren't scoring runs, it's as simple as that, and if we want to hold on to any hope of catching the Diamondbacks, we'd better start.

Phillies 9, Dodgers 2

In a near redo of last nights game, the Phillies beat the Dodgers for the second game in a row.

Cole Hamels got the win, he's 11-8. Clayton Kershaw took the loss, he's 2-4.

Kershaw struggled. He went only four innings, giving up six runs on seven hits and two walks. It wasn't entirely his fault. Matt Kemp misplayed a fly ball during the Phillies three run 5th inning, but ultimately, Kershaw was the one who allowed two runners on up to that point, and gave up a double after the fact. Jason Johnson came in and pitched 1 and 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, although two of those runs were inherited runners that were allowed to score when Joe Beimel came in to relieve Johnson. Beimel went 1 and 2/3 innings, not giving up any runs of his own, and Ramon Troncoso pitched a scoreless 8th.

The Dodger offense struggled again. For the second day in a row, they were only able to collect five base hits in a game. They scored two runs today on those hits, when James Loney doubled and Russell Martin followed with a two run homerun. The other three hits were assorted singles, the last one coming from Clayton Kershaw with one out in the 5th inning. The only player to reach base after that point was Juan Pierre, who reached on a fielder's error in the 8th.

The Arizona Diamondbacks beat down the Florida Marlins, 7-1. With their win and the Dodger loss, the Dodgers will fall to three games back in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to end this two game losing streak tomorrow at 5:05 L.A. time.

Opinion: Let's chalk this one up to lack of sleep of the long flight, too? There's not been much to say about these last two games. We haven't hit. We haven't pitched. We are getting cold at a really bad time. The Diamondbacks, while they aren't lighting the world on fire with their play, continue to play with some consistency. We are now three games back. The last time we were this far back in the NL West race was the end of June. That was ok at that point. Three games over three months is hardly a lead. But the season's clock is slowly ticking down: 33 games left. I can only take solice in the fact that we play Arizona six more times this season, and that after this series with Philadelphia, we don't play a team over .500 the rest of the season (excluding the six against Arizona). Arizona, meanwhile, has to play St. Louis seven times in September. I'm not giving up hope, but please Dodgers, let's try to not fall any more games back. Please?

Phillies 8, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers get bested by the Phillies offense and pitching and lose the first game of this four game series.

Kyle Kendrick got the win, he's 11-7. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 6-10.

Greg Maddux got through the first three innings unscathed and relatively effectively. He then proceeded to give up seven runs over the next 2 and 2/3 innings. His final line was 5 and 2/3 innings, seven runs on nine hits and a walk. Tanyon Sturtze came in and finished the inning. Ramon Troncoso pitched the final two innings, giving up just one run.

The Dodgers offense did not fare any better. Andre Ethier accounted for the Dodgers' only run. He went 1-4 with a solo homerun in the 1st inning. James Loney had three of the Dodgers' five hits. He went 3-4 on the day. Manny Ramírez collected two walks on the day, and Mark Sweeney had a pinch hit single in the 7th, and that was the entire Dodger offensive output for the day.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, the Florida Marlins came back from a run down to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks and keep the Dodgers within two games in the NL West. The Dodgers will try again tomorrow at 12:55 L.A. time.

Also: Andre Ethier's homerun was his 16th, which puts in him first place on the team.

Opinion: Just a bad game for the Dodgers. Let's chalk it up to no rest off the long flight. We struggled with hitting. We struggled with pitching. We just struggled. I have nothing more to say, I mean it. Seriously. Just forget about this game and move on... I don't mean to take anything away from Mark Sweeney (yes I do), but great job on getting a pinch hit single with two outs in the 7th inning and the Dodgers trailing 7-1. It is a hit though, so I will give him that.

Editorial: Sweeney and Maddux

Dodger game is going on right now, but I had a few assorted thoughts.

First, I said I had an interesting note about Mark Sweeney. Here's Torre's quote on Sweeney from a Dodgers.com article:

"Torre said he remains committed to left-handed pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney, despite his seasonlong slump. The popular Sweeney is batting .122 on the season and is 9-for-60 (.150) pinch-hitting with five RBIs.

Torre pointed out that Sweeney has improved since coming off the disabled list July 27 (3-for-10) after a hamstring injury that bothered him long before he was injured.

'You'd have to find somebody that's a better option and we don't have one,' Torre said. 'What he's done and his experience carries some weight. For a pinch-hitter, average isn't that important, although .120 is proof he hasn't gotten enough hits. Early on, he was terrible. But a lot of his average was when he was trying to play with the leg problem he had. He knows what to do up there. I still have faith in him to get big hits.'"

That's good that Torre still has faith in him to get big hits. I'm fairly sure he's the only one. I'm not even sure Mark Sweeney has faith he can collect some big hits anymore. This does confirm what I've said before: Sweeney is going to make it the whole year. He's with us until the end. If we make the playoffs, don't be surprised to see him there, too.

As for the Greg Maddux trade, I like it. We've already committed to winning this year, so we might as well go all out and get whoever we can for the stretch run. Still, the trade will be hard to analyze until we know who the Padres are getting back for Maddux. Hopefully, Ned Colletti had the sense to know the Padres were in a corner, and that they either had to keep Maddux, or send him to us. Supposedly, we are sending them two Players-To-Be-Named-Later, both of which are playing in the lower minor leagues, which seems ok to me, so long as those aren't the top two players in the lower minor leagues. We really shouldn't have to give that much for Maddux, but we'll find out soon enough. The Padres have to pick their two players by October.

Dodgers 3, Rockies 1

The Dodgers get some good pitching to avoid the sweep of the Rockies.

Derek Lowe got the win, he's 10-10. Jorge De La Rosa took the loss, he's 6-7. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 10th save.

Derek Lowe went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on four hits and two walks, while striking out seven. It was an odd game for Lowe, who threw 107 pitches by the time he was pulled in the 7th, and only had six groundouts in the game. Hong-Chih Kuo came in and pitched a scoreless 1 and 2/3 innings striking out two and Jonathan Broxton gave up a double, but struck out the side in the 9th for the save.

The Dodger offense found themselves scoring only three runs again. They've scored three runs in their last three consecutive games and have done it four times in their last five games. They are 1-3 in those four games. Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with a double and a run scored. Andre Ethier went 1-4 with a RBI. James Loney had the best day for the Dodgers. He went 2-3, with a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored.

The Diamondbacks won today, completing their sweep of the San Diego Padres, so the Dodgers will remain two games back in the NL West. The Dodgers now travel to Philadelphia to begin a four game series, starting tomorrow at 4:05 L.A. time.

Also: James Loney's two RBIs give him 70 on the year, good for first place on the Dodgers... Today was a day of "10"s: James Loney hit his 10th homerun, Derek Lowe got his 10th win, Hong-Chih Kuo picked up his 10th hold, and Jonathan Broxton picked up his 10th save.

Opinion: Hard to say this game was a must win with over a month left in the season, but going into Philadelphia after suffering a sweep at the hands of the Rockies at home would have been tough... The last two days, I've complained that we've gotten way too many hits to only score three runs on. Well, today, the Dodgers collected just the right amount of hits to score three runs on (five). We are going to need to do better than that... It was good to see the bullpen come through today after struggling the last three games... Speaking of 10s, we are beginning a 10 game road trip tomorrow in Philadelphia. This is a team that knows how to hit (especially in their park), knows how to pitch, and has an excellent bullpen. Plus, they probably aren't too happy after we swept them in four games last week. We are really going to need to be on our game. Arizona will be taking on the Florida Marlins, who aren't playing as well as they were earlier this year, but still might be able to help us out. We'll find out...

Rockies 4, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers fall again to the Rockies to guarantee a series loss.

Taylor Buchholz got the win, he's 6-3. Jonathan Broxton took the loss, he's 3-5. Brian Fuentes picked up his 24th save.

Chad Billingsley made a good start, but threw far too many pitches. He went six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks, while striking out six. He did this, however, on 114 pitches, only 68 of which were strikes. The bullpen did not fare much better. Chan Ho Park went two innings and gave up an unearned run, and Jonathan Broxton gave up the go-ahead run in the 9th.

The Dodger offense collected a handful of hits but failed, again, to collect enough runs from those hits. Jeff Kent went 2-4. Russell Martin went 2-4, as well, collecting a double and a run. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with the only Dodger RBI on the day.

The Diamondbacks beat the Padres again, and so the Dodgers will fall to two games back in the NL West. They'll try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Rockies tomorrow at 12:10 L.A. time.

Also: Danny Ardoin, starting at catcher today, stole a base. It was only his second career stolen base. His last stolen base was over three years ago (June 7th, 2005)... Every position player in the starting lineup except Casey Blake collected a hit today... The Dodgers were not able to draw a walk in the game... The Dodgers had four errors in the game (from Martin playing at 3rd base, one from Blake playing at 1st, and one from Ardoin).

Opinion: Well, these have been two ugly losses against a team we need to, and should be beating. Again, like last night, we collected a bunch of hits, and hardly any runs. Two runs today came on an error. So, we really only had one run today on nine hits. If you don't count the three "gimme" runs the last two games, the Dodgers have collected only three real runs from 20 hits (six doubles) and two walks. And that's not good... Also, the bullpen again today looked a little shaky. Jonathan Broxton has given up a run in three of his last five outings. You start to question if Broxton should be our solution at closer, and then you realize we don't have any other real options. And that's also not good... I'm not so sure if this whole "Give Russell Martin the day off, play him at 3rd" thing is working out. Martin plays in a spot where he doesn't get to play often and looks uncomfortable, Blake is moved around, and the only person who really gets the day off is James Loney, who probably needs it least of all. How about, if we want to give Martin the day off, give him the day off... So, we find ourselves back at two games behind Arizona. We really need to stop doing this. If we want to get to the playoffs, we can't keep playing this cat and mouse game. It's like riding a roller coaster that never really goes over the peak. We get near the peak, or even settle on the peak, then we roll back down. Then we start climbing again, we get to the peak, sit there for a few games, and start rolling back again. Except, there's one problem. Other than being increasingly frustrating, the ride is going to be over in 36 games, and if we haven't gotten over that peak by then, well... Oh, and finally, good ole' Mark Sweeney was at it again. He came in to pinch hit in the 6th inning and grounded out. I gave him an ultimatum: get a 10th hit by your 75th at-bat. He couldn't do it. He's 9-75 (.120), and as such, will suffer the consequence of continuous mocking from a random no-name blogger. I have something more about Sweeney, but I'll save it for the next post, along with some other assorted thoughts about the recent trade. See you then...

Rockies 8, Dodgers 3

The Dodgers struggle with both offense and pitching and fall to the Rockies in the first game of this three game series.

Ubaldo Jiménez got the win, he's 9-11. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 7-9.

Hiroki Kuroda gave up four runs in the first three inning, before settling down and not allowing another run through the next three. His final line was six innings, four runs on six hits and a walk, and three strikeouts. The bullpen, however, was not as good. Jason Johnson came in and pitched a scoreless 7th, but gave Matt Holliday a hanging breaking ball to start the 8th which Holliday hit out. Hong-Chih Kuo came in, gave up two walks, and then a three-run homerun that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game.

The Dodger offense, despite collecting 11 hits and two walks over the game, were only able to cash in three runs. They even had five doubles on the day. Jeff Kent went 3-5 with one of those doubles and a RBI. Matt Kemp went 2-5, both of which were doubles, and added a RBI and a run. Casey Blake went 2-4, and both of his hits were doubles. He also scored a run.

The Diamondbacks won today, so with the loss, the Dodgers find themselves a game back in the NL West... again... Tomorrow's game starts at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Tanyon Sturtze came in to relieve Kuo in the 8th, making his Dodger debut. Despite giving up a double, he managed to settled down the Rockies and get out of the inning unscathed.

Opinion: I'm a little bit stunned as to how a team can collected eleven hits (five of which were extra base hits) and not be able to score more than three runs. And one of those runs was scored on a passed ball. So really, it took eleven hits to score two runs. I'm going to go ahead and say that today (hopefully) was an anomaly. We'll see... Speaking of issues though, our bullpen struggled again. Jason Johnson is someone I have trouble trusting on the mound in an important situation, so I'm not shocked to see him give up a homerun. Worse though was Hong-Chih Kuo's performance. He has looked pretty good most of the year but recently has started to show some of his mortality. Kuo's ERA has been pretty much below 2.00 since the beginning of June, hovering around 1.75-1.80. After today, his ERA has been raised to 2.26. This could be an issue of overuse, or just an unlucky streak, we'll find out soon enough... Finally, Mark Sweeney came in in the 6th inning with the tying run on 2nd base and a chance to be a hero. He grounded out to the second baseman on the first pitch he saw. That's what I call a "professional at-bat." He's now 9-74... but at least he got to meet Chazz Palminteri.

Pictures From Friday's Game

Ok, I was finally able to get my pictures onto the computer. These were pictures I took at Friday's game versus the Brewers. They are from a cameraphone, so the quality isn't great. I didn't think to bring a camera, but once I got to the seats, I knew I had to take some pictures. Here are some of the better ones I took:

The Dodger on-deck circle was about 10 feet away, so I was able to get some shots of players warming up. This is Matt Kemp:

Here's Manny warming up, right before delivering a base hit to drive in a run:

Here's Nomar, he got really close to the audience, he was right up by the fence:
I tried about seven times to take a picture of James Loney making contact with the ball, and this was as close as I got:
I tried taking a shot of Jonathan Broxton throwing a pitch, as well. I got a little closer:
Post-game on field celebration:
You know those seats you see behind the plate during the game. This is a picture from those seats:
Anyway, it was a pretty awesome experience. I'm pretty sure you need to know somebody to get those seats, but if you can find a way in, please do it. Oh, and the best part: free food! Boo-ya!

Dodgers 7, Brewers 5

The Dodgers win in walk-off fashion to take the series from the Brewers and move back into a first place tie.

Joe Beimel got the win, he's 4-0. Carlos Villanueva took the loss, he's 4-6.

Clayton Kershaw made a good start for the Dodgers. He went six innings, giving up just one run on eight hits and a walk. Actually, he gave up the one run on just one hit, a solo homerun to Mike Cameron. He also struck out six batters. He issue, however, was pitch count. By the time he came out of the game after the 6th inning, he had made 96 pitches. Jason Johnson relieved Kershaw, and pitched a scoreless two innings. He got an out in the 9th before allowing a runner on base. Chan Ho Park came in, then gave up four unearned runs on a series of errors, singles, and a two-run homerun. Joe Beimel came in, threw one pitch, and got a groundout. He was the pitcher of record when the Dodgers won the game in the 9th.

A pretty good day for the Dodgers offensively. They collected 14 hits in the game. Matt Kemp went 2-5, with a homerun, a RBI, and two runs scored. Manny Ramírez went 2-4, with a homerun, three RBIs, and a run scored. The best offensive performance of the game went to Andre Ethier though. Ethier went 3-5, with a double, two homeruns (including a walk-off two run shot), three RBIs, and three runs scored.

The Diamondbacks lost, so with the win, the Dodgers moved back into a tie for first place in the NL West. They also moved back to four games over .500 at 64-60. Tomorrow is an off-day for the Dodgers. They'll start a three game series with the Rockies at home on Tuesday, starting at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp's homerun was a leadoff homerun, coming on the first pitch he saw... Matt Kemp's homerun was his 15th, which would be good for sole possession of first place on the team, if not for Andre Ethier's two homeruns. That brings Ethier's total to 15 as well and so they will share the title... Ethier's walk-off hit was his second walk-off hit this week (it was also the Dodgers' second walk-off homerun this week)... All three Dodger outfielders hit a homerun in the game.

Opinion: Another good win for the Dodgers, good to see them win two series against some of the better non-NL West teams... It's amazing to me that Andre Ethier can be leading, or at least in second place on the team for homeruns and still find himself in a platoon with Juan Pierre. Hopefully, this will end that platoon. Matt Kemp has more than enough speed at the top of the lineup that we don't need Juan Pierre solely for speed purposes... Is it just me, or is our bullpen taking weekends off? They blew two games last Saturday and Sunday, and did it again this week. Today, it wasn't nearly as bad. They allowed the Brewers to tie the game, but we luckily came out on top. This could end up an issue... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 6th inning and struck out. He's now 9-73 (.123 batting average). To be fair, I will lay off him if he can get a tenth hit by his 75th at-bat. That seems like a nice round number. It is by no means a quality number, but it would be nice to at least seem him get double digit hits this year. To compare, Matt Kemp has 12 hits in the last week. Though, again, in fairness, Kemp's at-bats aren't as "professional" as Sweeney's...

Brewers 4, Dodgers 3 (10 innings)

The Dodgers rallied late to tie the score, but give up the lead in extra innings and are unable to come back a second time.

Salomón Torres got the win, he's 6-3. Jonathan Broxton took the loss, he's 3-4. David Riske picked up his 2nd save.

Derek Lowe made a quality start for the Dodgers. He went seven innings, giving up just one run on eight hits, while striking out three and collecting 13 groundballs. The issue for the Dodgers, however, turned out to be the bullpen. Hong-Chih Kuo gave up a two-run homerun in the 8th inning to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead, and after the Dodgers tied the score in the 9th inning, Jonathan Broxton gave up a run in the 10th. In between the two, though, Chan Ho Park pitched a perfect 9th, striking out two.

Not too much offensively (though there were some forces working against them, more on that in a little) for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp went 2-5 with a double and a run scored. Andre Ethier went 2-4, with a walk, a homerun, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. Manny Ramírez went 1-3, with a walk and a RBI, but struck out with runners on 1st and 2nd in the 10th to end the game. Other than that, a few scattered hits and walks, but not amounting to much.

Arizona won today, so with the Dodger loss, they'll fall to one game back in the NL West race. The rubber match is at 1:10 L.A. time tomorrow.

Also: Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier both had outfield assists today, both nailing runners at 2nd... Eric Gagne, in his return to Dodger Stadium as a Brewer, pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

Opinion: Tough loss for the Dodgers, especially with the Arizona win, so we fall back into a place we've been a lot recently, one game back. I feel like we are living and dying by our bullpen this last week and a half. Since they blew two games last weekend against the Giants, they've been excellent during the week. They've kept us in games and kept the other teams scoreless. Now, however, we reach the weekend, and find ourselves losing due to the bullpen again. Though that's not the main problem. The bullpen's failure aside, we almost seemed destined to lose this game. The Brewers made a slew of amazing defensive plays to take away hits from Dodgers, including Gabe Kapler, Milwaukee's left fielder, climbing into the stands down the left field line and taking away a homerun from Russell Martin. That run, of course, would have provided the extra run the Dodgers needed to avoid going into extra innings. Then, there was the 10th inning baserunning blunder. Andre Ethier, with Matt Kemp on 1st, hit a ball that missed leaving the park by less than a foot out in center field. It looked as though it might be caught (and with out luck on the night, I'm surprised it wasn't), so Matt Kemp headed back to 1st to tag up. The ball, however, was just missed and bounced off the wall. Kemp at the time though, was standing on first, and so was only able to advance to 2nd before the ball could be brought back in. David Riske was able to record the next two outs, and the Dodgers were shut down. It was an unfortunate loss, on a day when not much seemed to go our way. The true test will be tomorrow, when we'll see if the Dodgers can bounce back from such a tough game.

Dodgers 5, Brewers 3

The Dodgers continue their winning ways, and collect their fifth win in a row to take the first game of this weekend series.

Chad Billingsley picked up the win, he's 12-9. Manny Parra took the loss, he's 9-6. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 9th save.

Chad Billingsley pitched a solid game, going seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out five. A combination of relievers Ramon Troncoso, Joe Beimel, and Jonathan Broxton kept the final two innings scoreless.

The Dodgers had a good day offensively. Each position player in the starting lineup collected a hit. Casey Blake went 3-4 with a double, a homerun (his 4th as a Dodger), two RBIs, and a run scored. Jeff Kent went 3-4 with an RBI. Russell Martin went 1-4, scoring twice, and collecting a RBI on a solo homerun in the 8th inning, his 11th on the year.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will hold on to the tie with them for first in the NL West race. The Dodgers also moved to 63-59, four games over .500. They'll try to keep up their winning ways tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Chad Billingsley's win today was his 12th on the season, good for first place on the team... Jonathan Broxton had an at-bat in the 9th inning (his third of the year) and drew a walk.

Opinion: It was a good game for the Dodgers, but I'm not going to talk about that. Rather, I'd like to talk a little bit about my experience at the game. Through some connections, I was able to sit in the Dugout Club seats behind homeplate. My seat was three rows behind the big screen that blocks foul balls on the right. It was a lot of fun, and something I'll have to post about later. I took a bunch of pictures, as well, so those'll be in there once I can upload the pictures to my computer... Also, a couple of pretty cool moments in the game that the crowd got into both before the beginning of the 9th inning. Some guy asked some girl to marry him, she said yes, kisses and hugs, all that good love stuff, set to the applause of 44,000 Dodger fans. Then, the JumboTron showed the highlight of Michael Phelps representing our country, chasing history, and winning a very close race to collect his 7th gold medal. Lots of cheering and a big "U.S.A.!" chant. It was a pretty cool atmosphere that carried into the 9th, seeing Jonathan Broxton strike out two and get Jason Kendall to fly out and end the game. Cue the music: "I Love L.A."...

Dodgers 3, Phillies 1

The Dodgers continue their hot play, and get some excellent pitching to complete the four game sweep.

Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 7-8. Brett Myers took the loss, he's 5-10. Hong-Chih Kuo picked up his 1st save.

Hiroki Kuroda made an excellent start. He went seven innings, giving up just one run on two hits and no walks, while striking out seven. And he did all that on just 79 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. Hong-Chih Kuo pitches two innings in relief, walking one batter, but allowing no hits while striking out two batters to close out the game and pick up the save.

No one Dodger had an incredibly impressive game. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with a solo homerun. James Loney went 1-3 with a triple, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Russell Martin went 1-4, stole a base, and scored a run. Casey Blake went 1-3 with a RBI.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will remain in a first place tie in the NL West. With the win, the Dodgers move to three games over .500 at 62-59. They will begin a three game weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow at 7:40 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp's homerun was his team leading 14th... Hong-Chih Kuo's save was the first of his career... Nomar Garciaparra had an impressive inning defensively in the 3rd when he fielded all three well hit groundballs in the inning (one up the middle, one right at him, and one in the hole). He also had an RBI groundout in the bottom of 2nd prior to that inning... Both hits given up in the game to the Phillies were doubles... This series was the Dodgers' first four game sweep of the Phillies since 1962.

Opinion: Kind of sad that we could be in the midst of an eight game winning streak right now had the bullpen not blown those two games in San Francisco, but I can't be mad at them, as they've more than redeemed themselves in this series. In this series, they've given up only three runs (all in the first game of the series) over 15 and 2/3 innings collecting two wins and two saves over that span while striking out 17 batters... This series was a good statement on the Dodgers ability to play with the big boys. It will be interesting now to see if the Dodgers can carry some momentum over into the next series against the Brewers. Despite being second in their division, they have a better record than the Phillies and are arguably a stronger team... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 7th and drew a walk. That's something...

Dodgers 7, Phillies 6

The Dodgers completed their second comeback in as many games and take the third game in the series to assure a series win.

Jonathan Broxton got the win, he's 3-3. Clay Condrey took the loss, he's 3-3.

Brad Penny had a bad start for the Dodgers. He went just three innings, giving up six hits on six hits and two walks. All six runs came on two-run, two-out homeruns (two in the 1st, and one in the 2nd). The bullpen took over in the 4th and did much better. They allowed no runs on only one hit over the next six innings (though they did walk four guys and hit a batter). Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect 9th, striking out two, and was the pitcher of record when the Dodgers won in the bottom of the 9th.

The Dodgers had a solid day offensively, collecting 12 hits and five walks. Jeff Kent went 4-5, scored a run, and had a big two-RBI double with two outs in the 8th inning. Andre Ethier went 2-5, with a RBI and two runs scored, hitting his 12th homerun on the year. Manny Ramírez also hit a homerun. It was a two run shot, his 5th as a Dodger (for the day, he went 1-3, with two walks, two RBIs, and a run). Russell Martin bounced back from his recent struggles, going 3-3, with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Nomar Garciaparra went 1-5, but the one hit was a big one. He hit a walk-off line drive homerun into the Dodger bullpen in left field to win the game for the Dodgers.

With the win, the Dodgers move to 61-59, two games over .500. The Arizona Diamondbacks lost today, so the Dodgers move into a first place tie in the NL West. They'll try to go for the four-game sweep of the Phillies tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: James Loney also collected a RBI today, moving his total up to a team-leading 68 on the year... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 3rd inning and grounded out to 1st, lowering his average to .125.

Opinion: A good win for the Dodgers, who are starting to act like a team that wants to be in the postseason... Brad Penny worries me though. He was throwing some very hittable pitches to the Phillies. I do wonder if we'll be able to rely on him down the stretch. Though I'm not sure it really matters, because even if there are some better options, Joe Torre's reluctance to make a change won't allow it... Mark Sweeney made another out today, but thankfully it was in the 3rd inning, so there was no chance he could come up in an important situation later in the game. I really feel like I'm beating a pointless dead horse. Sweeney only needs to survive until September 1st when the rosters expand, and then he can make it the rest of the year easy. Torre knows that when the rosters expand they'll be less pressure on the bench and Sweeney himself. I'll be shocked if Sweeney isn't with us the rest of the year, and deep into the playoffs... The Dodgers have really made a strong statement this series against a top team in the NL East. It will be even stronger if they complete the sweep tomorrow, not that winning the series itself won't be a good statement. It's just that, I'm going to the game tomorrow, and I really want to see a win.

Dodgers 4, Phillies 3

The Dodgers made a late comeback and win on a walk-off hit in the second game of the four game series.

Hong-Chih Kuo got the win, he's 4-2. J.C. Romero took the loss, he's 4-4.

Clayton Kershaw had a good start. He went six innings, and gave up three runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out eight (a career high). Joe Beimel (on Joe Beimel Bobblehead Night) pitched a perfect 7th inning, striking out one. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched two scoreless innings to keep the Phillies to three runs and was the pitcher of record when the game was won in the bottom of the 9th.

Matt Kemp had a good day at the plate. He went 3-4 with a double and two runs scored. Casey Blake went 1-3 and had two RBIs. Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with a walk and a RBI. He was also hit by a pitch. Andre Ethier came in the game as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning and stayed in the game. He then came up in the 9th inning with Russell Martin on 2nd base and knocked a single into left field to score Martin and win the game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so they remain one game up on the Dodgers in the NL West. With the win, the Dodgers moved back to one game over .500. The Dodgers will try for their third straight win tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.

Also: Matt Kemp, with his three hits tonight, moved his average to .302. Other than Manny (who is hitting .476 in limited playing time), Kemp is the only Dodger to currently be batting over .300... Kemp has now collected three hits in each of his last three games... The Dodgers win today was their 60th on the season.

Opinion: A good win for the Dodgers, but again, a small issue with runners left on base. They left 12 runners on base throughout the game. The pitching in the game was excellent today. After giving up a run to the Phillies in each of the first three innings, the Dodgers settled down and shut down the one of the more potent offenses for the next six. And too bad we didn't have as much success this weekend. Had the bullpen not blown those two games, we might very well be in the midst of a six game winning streak. Good though to see us getting some wins against a good ball club. These are the teams we will meet in the playoffs should we get there.