Alright, let's talk about a couple things that have gone down recently.
Jamey Carroll signed with the Dodgers for two years and I am apathetic. Carroll's an average bat, and not bad with the glove. It kind of goes down like this: if Carroll is our starting 2nd baseman, we're in trouble. If Carroll fills the role that Mark Loretta had last year, then we are better off. Either way, the contract is only two years and it's under $4 million, so it's not a bad signing.
The Dodgers also added Luis Ayala on the cheap. As Mike at MSTI points out, Ayala's been (in Mike's words) a "monumental jackass." He did a write up about Ayala here. I don't like how much of a jackass Ayala is, but I'm not worried much about him affecting clubhouse chemistry or anything. The brilliant thing about Joe Torre is, say what you will about his coaching style but the man knows how to control a clubhouse. I don't think Ayala will be a problem. He might suck at pitching, but that's another story...
Speaking of adding players on the cheap, Diamond Leung reported on his Twitter that the Dodgers also brought back Doug Mientkiewicz and Ángel Berroa on minor league deals. I like Mientkiewicz, he's not great, but he's an okay option as a backup to Loney or being a left handed bat off the bench. If we have to use Berroa, I'm going to be off-put.
Off-putting.
And finally, Juan Pierre is gone, and he's still getting on my nerves. When Dylan Hernandez covered the Pierre trade for the L.A. Times, he went to Pierre to get some quotes. Here's a piece of the article:
"'I've been in the witness protection program for the last two years.'
Pierre said he didn't consider his last three years a waste.
'When I first signed with them, people were like, 'What in the world were they thinking?' ' he said. 'I've been criticized so much in the last three years, so I'm ready for the Chicago media. All in all, it's made me a stronger person.'"
Long sigh...
"Witness protection"? You appeared in 264 of 324 games the last two years and started 162 of those games. You weren't a ghost.
And I'm glad this whole experience made you "a stronger person." Guess what, Juan? You were getting paid millions upon millions of dollars to play baseball, so take a little criticism in the media.
And by the way, most of the things I see about you in the media are complementary. Writers and television announcers have had almost nothing but praise for your "grittiness" or "baseball attitude" or whatever.
You're a baseball player, not a pariah. Get over yourself.
So, I've been a little busy the last week, and as such, wasn't able to write about a couple of things that happened.
First, happy trails to Scott Proctor, who signed a one-year deal with the Florida Marlins. At least now he gets to avoid Joe Torre for a little while.
Second, happy trails to both Ángel Berroa and Jason Johnson. Though I don't believe anything has been made official yet, both are heading to the New York Yankees. Um... they will be missed? I don't have much else.
Finally, the Dodgers added a pitcher, by signing Claudio Vargas. He's ok... He recorded double digit wins in 2006 and 2007, but has never had a sub-4.00 ERA. I'm not thrilled about the acquisition, but I guess it couldn't hurt to have an extra pitcher around.
The chose to cut loose five players at the non-tender deadline, not offering contracts to shortstop Ángel Berroa and pitchers Takashi Saito, Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban, and Mario Alvarez.
This doesn't mean the end of these players in Dodger Blue, as they now become free agents and can still be resigned. They can, however, also be signed by other teams.
Ok, back to player profiles, continuing at shortstop where we left off.
Player: Rafael Furcal
2008 Stats: .357, five homeruns, 16 RBIs, eight stolen bases, .439 OBP, .573 Slugging
2008 Analysis: What an interesting year Rafael Furcal had. He played in only 36 games this year, his lowest ever since he came up to the majors in 2000. In those 36 games, however, he really made it count. By comparison, Furcal had about 80 less at-bats than Ángel Berroa and really demolished any and all of Berroa's stats.
For the first month and change, Furcal was, dare I say, looking like an MVP candidate. He was on fire! Then he was scratched from a few starts for some discomfort in his back. And then he needed a 15-day DL trip. Then that DL trip lasted over a month. Furcal tried to come back and made it through a couple AAA rehab games before feeling the discomfort again. Then he had back surgery. And yeah...
Furcal came back from back surgery late in the season and started all eight Dodger playoff games. He went .258, with a .378 OBP, and scored nine runs. It was a not-bad post-season, though Furcal did commit some very badly timed errors at shortstop that led to some losses. I'd chalk that up to coming back too soon from heavy surgery on his back, and I can really fault a guy for trying to help his team.
2009 Outlook: Furcal is currently a free agent and is getting a lot of interest from various teams. Personally, I'd like to see the Dodgers try and get Furcal back. I originally hoped to give him a short deal with incentives, but it looks now like despite the fact he had some injury questions, some team is going to give Furcal a good deal.
That being the case, even though he might be an injury question mark, I still want Furcal back. When healthy, he's probably in the Top 5 of all current lead-off hitters. He can hit for average, he's got some power, he can field, he can still steal bases. He's the spark plug for the lineup, and if we can be assured he healthy, I say give him whatever he wants, but maybe have Chin-lung Hu or Ivan De Jesus waiting in the wings...
Now that all the awards have been given out in baseball, it's time for me to give out my rewards, so we'll take a quick break from Player Profiles to hand out some rewards. First up: Comeback Player of the Year.
Just three nominees for the Comeback Player of the year:
Ángel Berroa
-After playing only nine games in the majors in 2007 and being sent to the Kansas City Royals' AAA team, Berroa was picked up by the Dodgers midseason. He then proceeded to start 64 games at shortstop for the Dodgers. He hit his first homerun in two years and played solid defense down the stretch.
Chan Ho Park
-Playing on three different teams after leaving the Dodgers before the 2002 season (including playing only one game in the majors in 2007), and not having an ERA below 4.80 over that time, Chan Ho returned to the team that first signed him. He made 54 appearances in 2008 (including five spot starts) and went 4-4 with a 3.40 ERA.
Hong-Chih Kuo-Kuo made it into only eight games in 2007, posting a 7.42 ERA while struggling with injuries throughout the year. Always an injury threat, Kuo made it through most of the 2008 season, appearing in 42 games (including three spot starts) and went 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA.
...And the Comeback Player of the Year is...
Chan Ho Park.
Ángel Berroa was a solid enough replacement at short stop, but not incredibly impressive. Many always knew Hong-Chih Kuo was a good pitcher but just needed to stay healthy, and when he did that, he proved how good he could be. His comeback was not nearly as good as say...
Chan Ho Park, on the other hand, had a great year for someone who's career was looking in question coming into the season. Despite his dropoff near the end of the season, Chan Ho still had his lowest ERA since 2000. In fact, if not for a handful of bad games near the end of the season, Chan Ho had an ERA below 3.00 for most of the season. He played three different roles out of the bullpen (spot starter, short reliever, long reliever) and did it all well.
So with that, Chan Ho Park is the "J's Dodger Blog 2008 Comeback Player of the Year."
Player: Ángel Berroa
2008 Stats: .230, one homerun, 16 RBIs
2008 Analysis: Who would have thought before the season that Ángel Berroa would play more games at shortstop for us than any other player? And play he did. In fact, he made it into 84 games as a Dodger, more than half. And over that span, he did, well... eh...
He did have a couple good weeks of offensive play, but mostly the bat wasn't there. In fact, he didn't collect an RBI with us until July 21st... which doesn't sound too bad for a mid-season acquisition, except Berroa played his first game with us on June 8th.
Defensively, he was, well... eh... He had a .975 fielding percentage (eight errors in 318 chances) which was a step up from his career fielding percentage and for the most part is solid, but still, eh...
2009 Outlook: Berroa's option was declined by the Dodgers, so he's a free agent-ish. I'm not sure, I think we have first rights towards resigning him, but I don't know that the market is blazing hot for Ángel Berroa. I'm getting the same vibe for Berroa that I have for Pablo Ozuna. He's not good enough that he needs to be resigned, nor does he have an unmatched skill-set. I don't think we'll need him back for 2009.
The Dodgers failed to complete the sweep of the Rockies and see their winning streak snapped at four.
Manny Corpas got the win, he's 3-3. Hong-Chih Kuo took the loss, he's 5-3.
Greg Maddux had his best start as a Dodger this season. He went seven innings and surrendered no runs on only two hits while striking out three. And he did this all on 68 pitches. Cory Wade pitched two perfect, scoreless innings in relief. Hong-Chih Kuo came in and gave up the winning run. He got only one out while giving up a run on four hits.
The Dodger offense, meanwhile, struggled to score any runs against Rockies' pitching. They collected eight hits and a walk, but grounded into two double plays and had a run get caught stealing. The best offensive player for the second day in a row was Ángel Berroa, who went 2-4. Six other Dodgers collected one hit each, and Nomar Garciaparra collected the only walk. The Dodgers also failed to collect any extra-base hits or advance a runner past 2nd base.
As of this writing, the Arizona Diamondbacks are trailing 1-0 to the Cincinnati Reds after four innings. With the loss, the Dodgers' lead in the NL West is reduced to four games. The Dodgers will now travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates for a four game series starting Monday at 4:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to five games over .500 (76-71).
Opinion: A pretty ugly offensive game for the Dodgers. I think it really shows how important a hot Andre Ethier is to our lineup. The offense looked like they were fighting an uphill battle all day. Stranded runners, rally-killing double plays. We were falling right into Aaron Cook's (starting pitcher for the Rockies) trap. He's a sinkerball pitcher, and go the Dodgers to roll-over into 17 groundball outs through eight innings. In any case, we still won the series, and as long as we keep doing that, we'll glide right into the playoffs.
EDIT: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings for the second day in a row. Arizona remains 4.5 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West race, but the Dodger Magic Number is now 10.
The Dodgers take the second game of the series and win their fourth overall.
Clayton Kershaw got the win, he's 4-5. Jorge De La Rosa took the loss, he's 8-8.
Clayton Kershaw had a pretty good, albeit short start. He went six innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks, while striking out seven. Chan Ho Park pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out four in the process. Jonathan Broxton retired the side in order in the 9th, striking out two.
A handful of different players contributed offensively. In fact, each player in the starting lineup reached base at-least once, including Kershaw. Russell Martin went 1-5, but had two RBIs. 
Casey Blake went 1-4, but his one hit was a solo homerun. Blake DeWitt went 0-1, but drew three walks and scored twice. Ángel Berroa probably had best game offensively. He went 2-3 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.
The Arizona Diamondbacks as of this blog writing are up 2-1 against Cincinnati going into the 8th inning. With the win, the Dodgers move to four games up on the Diamondbacks. Should the Diamondbacks win, they'll lower the Dodgers' lead back to 3.5 games. If they lose, the Dodger lead will rise to 4.5 games. The Dodgers will try to go for the sweep tomorrow starting at 12:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to six games over .500 (77-71)... With the Dodger win, the Magic Number is now 12 games. Should the Diamondbacks lose later tonight, that number will be lowered to 11.
Opinion: I really like that we are going out there and handling our business. Yes, it's good to know what Arizona is doing. If they lose, that's better for us, sure. But the win itself is the most important thing. I mean, it's so simple. We just keep winning, and we don't need to worry about Arizona. It kinda helps, too, that we are playing only pretty bad teams, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth, whatever that means...
EDIT: Cincinnati tied the score with Arizona to go to extra innings. They then got the go-ahead run in the top of 10th. They shut down Arizona in the bottom of the 10th to get the win. So with Arizona's loss, they fall to 4.5 game back of the Dodgers in the NL West race. That also lowers the Dodger Magic Number to 11.
The Dodgers win the second game of the series, their seventh in a row to move into first place in the NL West.
Chad Billingsley got the win, he's 14-10. Brandon Webb took the loss, he's 19-7.
Chad Billingsley had a good start. He didn't go too deep into the game, but he did keep the Diamondbacks scoreless. He went 6.1 innings, giving up four hits and a walk, while striking out nine. Cory Wade pitched a perfect 1.2 innings, striking out two. The bullpen struggled in the 9th, allowing two runs before Jonathan Broxton came in and struck out the final batter to end the game.
Manny Ramírez led the Dodgers as they scored seven runs today. He went 2-4 with a homerun, a groundrule double, five RBIs, and a run scored. Matt Kemp went 2-4 with a run scored, and Ángel Berroa went 1-2, with a walk and two runs scored. Andre Ethier and Russell Martin had identical stat lines. They both went 0-2, with a strikeout, three walks, an RBI, and a run scored.
So with the win, the Dodgers move into sole possession of first place in the NL West for the first time since April 4th. They'll go for the sweep of Arizona tomorrow at 1:10 L.A. time.
Also: The win puts the Dodgers two games over .500 (72-70)... Manny Ramírez's homerun was his 521st of his career, putting him in a four-way tie for 17th all-time. His five RBIs gave him 1,706 in his career, good for 20th all-time.
Opinion: This is weird. We are actually in first place? By ourselves? 1st place Dodgers. For the first time in about five months, we aren't chasing another team. Wow. And on top of it all, we've now denied Brandon Webb his 20th win for two straight starts. We've also now beaten Dan Haren and Brandon Webb in consecutive starts twice in the last week. Let's hope for a sweep tomorrow, and leave this weekend 1.5 games in first place. Then, let's never look back. Sounds good to me...
The Dodgers complete the three game sweep of the Padres and have now won five in a row.
Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 8-10. Wade LeBlanc took the loss, he's 0-1. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 12th save.
Hiroki Kuroda had a shaky start. He went 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on 10 hits and a walk, while striking out four. The Dodger bullpen did considerably better. They went a combined 3.2 scoreless innings. That included Cory Wade, who pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, and Jonathan Broxton, who retired the side in order in the 9th for the save.
The Dodgers had a pretty good day offensively. Russell Martin went 1-3, with a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI. Andre Ethier went 2-4, with a double and a run scored. Casey Blake went 2-4, with a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored. Blake DeWitt went 1-4, with two RBIs and a run scored (coming on a two-run homerun in the 4th inning).
Finally, Ángel Berroa went 2-4, with a double, a homerun, an RBI, and two runs scored.
The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so they will remain 1.5 games in front of the Dodgers in the NL West. Both teams have the day off tomorrow before beginning a three games series against each other Friday. The first game starts at 7:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, their 70th on the season, the Dodgers move back to .500 (70-70)... The Dodgers have hit six homeruns in the last two games (three in each)... Ángel Berroa's homerun was his first since September 25th, 2006... James Loney went 0-4 to snap his hitting streak at 13 games.
Opinion: We are really a roller coaster of a team. How can it be the same team that goes six for seven against two very good out of division teams, then go one for our next 11, then follow that up with a five game winning streak? I mean, seriously. That's bi-polar... That's good execution. We needed to come out and win this series and we did just that. We had hitting and we had pitching for the most part. Hopefully, this sweep will give us a little momentum going into the weekend...
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...
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.
The Dodgers outslugged the Phillies to take the first game in this four game set and move back to .500.
Derek Lowe got the win, he's 9-10. Kyle Kendrick took the loss, he's 10-6. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 8th save.
Derek Lowe bounced back from his last start to pitch a solid game today. He went 6 and 1/3 innings giving up three runs on five hits and a walk while collecting 13 groundball outs. The bullpen struggled afterwards. Chan Ho Park came in and gave up a run (as well as a base hit that allowed an inherited runner to score that was credited to Lowe). Jonathan Broxton came in to finish the 8th, then struggled through the 9th. He gave up two runs on a walk and three hits before finally shutting the door on the Phillies and closing the game.
The Dodger offense exploded for seven runs against Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick, including six runs in the 3rd. That inning included a two run double from Manny Ramírez, a two run single from James Loney, and a two run homerun from Casey Blake, his third as a Dodger. Overall on the day, Matt Kemp went 3-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and two runs scored. Jeff Kent went 3-3 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored. Manny went 2-3 with two walks, two RBIs, and a runs scored. James Loney went 3-4 with three RBIs. In total, the Dodgers collected 16 hits and seven walks on the day.
The Diamondbacks were inactive today, so with the win the Dodgers pick up a half-game on them. They are now one game back in the NL West. They'll try to take the second game in the series tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: James Loney's three RBIs gave him 67 on the season, good for first place on the Dodgers... Of the seven walks the Dodgers received today, four were intentional walks... On top of the 16 hits and seven walks, Jeff Kent was also hit by a pitch.
Opinion: While the Dodgers had a good offense day, having 24 batters reach base, and scoring eight runs, there was some down side. In total, the Dodgers left 23 players on base. Nomar Garciaparra is due to come of the DL tomorrow, and just in time, as eight of those 23 left on base were from Ángel Berroa. Another issue today was the bullpen. It gave up three runs in 2 and 2/3 innings, while also allowing an inherited runner to score. This is not a good sign considering their struggles the past few days. The question is raised: has the bullpen been overworked or are they just going through a bad streak? We'll have to monitor that over the next several days.
The Dodgers fell behind quickly, and then rallied to get close, but ultimately didn't have enough to come back and they lose the first in the three game series.
Kevin Correia got the win, he's 2-5. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 5-8. Brian Wilson picked up his 28th save.
Kuroda had his third bad start in a row. He went only 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits, though he wasn't helped out by a few questionable calls from the umpires. Since the All-Star break, Kuroda has gone 11 and 2/3 innings giving up 18 runs (17 earned). The Dodgers bullpen did an excellent job, though. Combined, the bullpen today went 5 and 1/3 innings, striking out seven and only allowing a walk over that span.
The Dodgers had all their offense come in the middle of the game. The first 13 batters went 1-13. In the 5th and 6th innings, the Dodgers plated six runs. The Dodgers were retired in order of the next three innings going 0-9. A weird game overall, with the Dodgers getting 4 RBIs combined from the 8th and 9th hitters (Ángel Berroa, Andruw Jones, and MARK SWEENEY with a two RBI double raising his average to .106) Other than that, Casey Blake went 2-4 with two runs scored, and Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.
Arizona also lost today, so even though the Dodgers fall back to one game under .500, they remain one game back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to even up the series tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp went 1-4, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.
The Dodgers have an offense outburst against the Rockies to get the win in the first game of the three game series and move back within one game of .500.
Brian Falkenborg got the win, he's 2-2. Kip Wells took the loss, he's 1-2.
As far as pitching goes, the Dodgers were not impressive throughout the game. Starter Eric Stults went only 3 and 2/3 innings giving up three runs on six hits and three walks. In total, the Dodgers used five pitchers in the game, and each one gave up at least one run and other than when Stults set the Rockies down 1-2-3 in the 1st inning, the Rockies managed to get at least one baserunner every inning.
They also managed to score at least one run in each of the last seven innings.
The pitching performance would have been much harder to take if not for the Dodger offense. The collected season highs in both runs (16) and hits (18). Every position player in the starting line-up collected a hit. Every player in the starting line-up, including Stults, knocked in at least one run (except Andruw Jones, who failed to collect any RBIs on the day, but including Ángel Berroa, who knocked in two runs after his first 73 at-bats in which he went without an RBI) as well as scored a run. The two best offensive performances would have to go to Jeff Kent (who went 3-3 with a walk, two RBIs, and three runs scored) and James Loney (who raised his batting average back to .300, going 3-6 with five RBIs and two runs scored).
The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will remain tied for 1st place in the NL West
Also: Clayton Kershaw will be called-up for tomorrow's game, which starts at 6:05 L.A. time. No word yet as to who's spot he will take on the roster.
The Dodgers played two hours longer than the previous game only to go down in extra innings to the Marlins.
Joe Nelson got the win, he's 2-0. Brian Falkenborg took the loss, he's 1-2. Kevin Gregg picked up his 18th save.
The starting pitching for the Dodgers faltered today. Chan Ho Park giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits, including a homerun. 
The bullpen then combined to shut down the Marlins over the next six innings before Brian Falkenborg gave up a go-ahead homerun to Hanley Ramírez (who had five hits on the day) in the 11th.
Hitting wise, the Dodgers had some troubles. Their best sequence came in the 3rd, when Ángel Berroa got a one out single and was sacrificed over to second base. With two outs, Matt Kemp then singled him in. With Andre Ethier at the plate, Kemp stole second. Ethier then drove him in with a single. Ethier then stole second. Russell Martin then drove him in with a single. It was a good combination of hitting and running to plate three. Martin also had a solo homerun in the 6th. Other than those two instances, the Dodgers for the most part, were shut down.
It was a tough loss for the Dodgers, pushing them back into second place in the NL West, but they'll try again tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Behind a strong pitching performance from Eric Stults and offense from James Loney and Matt Kemp, the Dodgers get the win and complete the three game sweep of the Reds.
Eric Stults gets the win in his first start of the year after being called up, he's 1-0. Aaron Harang takes the loss, he's 3-10. Takashi Saito picks up his 10th save.
Eric Stults, just up from Las Vegas went six innings, striking out five, and giving up just three runs, only one of which was an earned run. The Dodgers got in some trouble in the seventh inning, but got out of it giving up only four runs. Jonathan 
Broxton pitched a scoreless eighth, and Saito pitched a scoreless ninth for his tenth save.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers were able to mount some good offense. Matt Kemp went 2-5 with a double and a homerun, knocking in three runs. James Loney continued his hot hitting, going 3-4, with a walk and a double. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit today, including the pitcher Stults. Andre Ethier and Ángel Berroa each had two hits. Altogether, the Dodgers collected six extra-base hits on the day.
The Dodgers outscored the Reds 16-6 in the three game sweep, and won a series for the first time since the last time they played the Reds (May 19-21). They'll try to take some momentum with them into the weekend when they take on the Cleveland Indians. The first game is tomorrow, starting at 7:40 L.A. time.
Alright, let's talk about a couple things that have gone down recently.
Off-putting.
