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?