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."...