Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 3

The Dodgers complete the three game sweep of the Diamondbacks for their eighth win in a row.

Hong-Chih Kuo got the win, he's 5-2. Jon Rauch took the loss, he's 4-6. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 13th save.

Clayton Kershaw didn't have a good start. He made it only four innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out four. He gave up two solo homeruns in the game. The bullpen then combined to pitch the next five innings. Though they were shaky (four hits and three walks), they managed to keep the Diamondbacks from scoring any extra runs. Jonathan Broxton struck out three in the final 1.2 innings to close the door and get the save (due in part to help from Nomar Garciaparra, who made a great diving catch to end the game).

Offensively, the Dodgers had a pretty good game. James Loney went 1-3 with a sac-fly and three RBIs on the day. Manny Ramírez went 2-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored. Andre Ethier went 2-3 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored. Nomar Garciaparra came in in a double switch late in the game and had a tie-breaking sac-fly in the 7th inning.

With the win, the Dodgers increase their lead in the NL West to 1.5 games. The Dodgers will now travel to San Diego to begin a three game series there, tomorrow at 7:05 L.A. time.

Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to three games over .500 (73-70)... James Loney's three RBIs give him a team leading 79 on the year.

Opinion: It's good to not rest on your laurels. We could have come out today and given the Diamondbacks back a game, leaving the weekend in 2nd place again. And at one point, it looked like it was going to happen (six consectutive Dodgers struck out in the 4th and 5th innings while the Diamondbacks held on to a 3-2 lead). But the Dodgers came back, and firmly established themselves as the first place team in the NL West. Now, we have to keep it up. This was a great week, and now we're going into San Diego now, which always seems to be a tough place for us to win. We won't face Jake Peavy or Chris Young, however, and we've got some momentum. We've got a 1.5 game lead now in the NL West. We are in first place. I say we keep going and never look back. This is the final push to the playoffs... Let's do it.