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.
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 shut down the Diamondbacks to take the first game in this three game weekend series and win their sixth game in a row.
Derek Lowe got the win, he's 12-11. Dan Haren took the loss, he's 14-8.
Derek Lowe pitched an excellent game. He went eight scoreless innings giving up just two hits and two walks over that span. He struck out four and collected 13 groundball outs. He was efficient, too. He did that all on 101 pitches. Chan Ho Park followed, pitching a perfect 9th inning, striking out two.
The Dodgers offense, led by Andre Ethier, tallied seven runs on the night. Ethier went 5-5. He had two doubles and a homerun, he scored a run, and drove in five RBIs. Russell Martin also had a major contibution. He went 1-3, with two walks, a stolen base, an RBI, and three runs scored. Combined, the Dodgers collected 10 hits, eight walks, and a hit-batter in the game.
With the win, the Dodgers move back to within .5 games of the Diamondbacks in the NL West race. They'll try to go for their seventh win in a row (as well as the division lead) tomorrow at 12:55 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to one game over .500 (71-70)... Andre Ethier's homerun gives him a team leading 20 on the season. Ethier's big night tonight followed a two hit game and a three hit game for him. Ethier is now 10 for his last 13, with two homeruns, a triple, three doubles, a walk, six runs scored, and five RBIs.
Opinion: Andre Ethier is really feeling it, huh? Good job by the Dodgers tonight, coming out and making a statement by taking down Dan Haren. The next two pitchers: Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson, will only be tougher, so tonight was an especially important win. We got some excellent pitching tonight. We got some excellent hitting tonight. We were excellent tonight... Let's keep this up, huh?
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.
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' 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.
So some stuff happened while I was gone. Here's a quick breakdown.
On Thursday, 20-year-old rookie Clayton Kershaw did what 35-year-old veteran Derek Lowe couldn't, shut down the St. Louis Cardinals.
Brad Penny made a good return Friday and the Dodgers showed some power to win the first game in the series against the San Francisco Giants.
Then we lost the next two games when our bullpen blew the lead late in the game, and while we should have swept the Giants, we ended up losing two out of three. And while we should have been in first place in the NL West by 1/2 a game, we now sit 1.5 games behind the Diamondbacks.
While in Arizona, I did manage to put some bad voodoo on the Diamondbacks. Orlando Hudson is going to be out for the rest of the year with a wrist injury. I was even watching that on Arizona's Fox Sports channel when it happened. Apparently, however, I wasn't in Phoenix long enough, as they picked up Adam Dunn today for stretch run. This is getting interesting.
The Dodgers will start a four game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:10 L.A. time.
The Dodgers outslugged the Diamondbacks to win the 4th game and split the series.
Cory Wade got the win, he's 2-1. Doug Davis took the loss, he's 4-6.
Jason Johnson struggled in his second start for the Dodgers. He couldn't make it through the 5th inning, going only 4 and 1/3 innings giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. The bullpen relieved him, going a combined 4 and 2/3 innings, giving up no runs over that span. 
Cory Wade pitched 1 and 2/3 innings in that span, giving up just two hits, while striking out one to get the win.
The Dodgers offense, meanwhile, collected 16 hits on the day, including five extra base hits. Manny Ramírez had another good day for the Dodgers, going 4-5 including a homerun and a double. He had three RBIs and two runs scored on the day. Matt Kemp also had a good day, going 3-5 with a homerun, two RBIs, and three runs scored. James Loney and Casey Blake collected two hits and a RBI each.
So the Dodgers split the series and get back within one game of the Diamondbacks in the NL West. They also moved back up to a game over .500 with the win. Tomorrow is a day off. The next Dodger game will be in St. Louis, starting at 5:15 L.A. time on Tuesday.
Also: Manny, with two singles, a double, and a homerun today, fell a triple short of the cycle... Matt Kemp's homerun was his 13th on the season, that leads the team... James Loney collected his 61st RBI on the season, that also leads the team (though Matt Kemp's two RBIs brought him to 60). Mark Sweeney pinch hit today, and grounded out to the pitcher, his average is at .116.
Opinion: Manny is really feeling it. He's 8-13 since coming over to the Dodgers with two homeruns and five RBIs. His eight hits and five RBIs in the last three games match Mark Sweeney's total for the entire year. Wow. Imagine that. If Mark Sweeney is providing professional at-bats and getting that kind of production, Manny's at-bats must be uber-professional. Manny has also matched Andruw Jones's homerun total. He still needs eight RBIs to catch Andruw.
The Dodgers give up another two runs to the Diamondbacks, but this time, get enough runs to get a victory in the third game of the series.
Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 6-8. Yusmeiro Petit took the loss, he's 1-2. Chan Ho Park picked up his 2nd save.
Hiroki Kuroda, after having three bad starts since the All-Star break, settled in and had an excellent start. He went 7 and 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on four hits and no walks, while striking out six. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched an inning and 1/3 giving up a run and getting into a little trouble in the 9th before Chan Ho Park came in and got the last out to close out the game.
The Dodgers offense did well today. Manny Ramírez and Casey Blake each had their first homeruns as Dodgers. 
Manny, Blake, James Loney and Jeff Kent each went 2-4 on the day. Manny had 2 RBIs, while Blake and Kent had one each.
The Dodgers got back to .500 with the win today, and have one game tomorrow to cut the lead to one game in the NL West before the head out on the road. The game tomorrow starts at 1:10 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp went 0-4, snapping his hitting streak at 19 games... Kemp was the only position player in the starting lineup to not get a basehit.
Opinion: Well, I guess one person can carry a team. Manny was involved in three of the four Dodger runs today, either scoring as the run, or knocking the run in, or both. Still though, as I said yesterday, it's just one game. So far, we are 1-1 with Manny in uniform. We'll probably need a few more games to see how good we can be. And by the way, what's up with Casey Blake? Does he not know how to groundout or flyout? As of today's game, Blake has had 29 at-bats with us. He's collected 10 hits in those at-bats. He's also struck out 12 times in those at-bats. That means only seven of Casey Blake's at-bats with us this year have not ended in a strikeout or basehit and two of those times came today. He went 2-4 today with no strikeouts. Just odd, that's all I'm saying...
By the way, Vin over at Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness posted an analysis of the Manny trade. It's a good read and has some interesting similarities to my post... I knew I liked those guys for a reason...
The Dodgers fall to the Diamondbacks for the second straight game in the four game series.
Randy Johnson got the win, he's 9-7. Chan Ho Park took the loss, he's 4-3. Brandon Lyon picked up his 24th save.
Clayton Kershaw made a good start opposite future Hall-of-Famer Johnson, matching him for six innings. Kershaw gave up only four hits and a walk over those six innings, allowing no runs, and striking out three. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, though, the bullpen allowed two runs. Chan Ho Park gave up a homerun to Tony Clark to lead off the 7th inning. He allowed a few more runners on before being pulled by Joe Torre. Joe Beimel came in and offered no help, giving up an RBI double to Stephen Drew, and a lead to the Diamondbacks that they would be able to hold until the end of the game.
The Dodgers only collected six hits on the day. Manny Ramírez went 2-4, though both hits came in odd circumstances. His first was a shot towards Stephen Drew that saw Drew lift his glove too quickly and the ball travel right under it. The second was a check swing grounder that pulled Tony Clark off the bag enough for a single. 
He also came up in the 9th inning as the winning run, but grounded into a double play. Matt Kemp had the only RBI on the game, a double in the 6th inning that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
With this second straight loss, the Dodgers fall to three games back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West, and fall to a game under .500. The Dodgers can only hope now to win the next two games in this series and cut the deficit in the playoff chase to one game by weekend's end.
Also: Matt Kemp, with his RBI double, went 1-4 today, extending his hitting streak to 19 games... Mark Sweeney's two hits in his last two at-bats streak came to an abrupt end when he struck out swinging pinch hitting in the 8th. His average went down to .118.
Opinion: Not too react too dramatically to just one game, but this is what I'm worried about: having Manny means nothing if the rest of the team still isn't hitting. One player alone cannot carry a team in baseball, that's why a guy like Alex Rodriguez doesn't have any rings. It takes a team, of which Manny should just be a part of. We need to start hitting because we can't keep asking our pitching to win when we only give them one run in support. And seriously, why is Sweeney still on the team?
The Dodgers were shut down for the most part by Brandon Webb and fall in the first game of this four game set.
Brandon Webb got the win, he's 15-4. Derek Lowe took the loss, he's 8-9. Brandon Lyon picked up his 23rd save.
Derek Lowe pitched a good enough game. He went 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up just two runs on seven hits while striking out seven. He also collected nine groundball outs. 
Hong-Chih Kuo struck out two over a scoreless inning and 2/3. Cory Wade struck out one in a perfect 9th.
The Dodgers managed to collect only seven hits on the day. Juan Pierre went 2-3 with a run scored. Russell Martin went 1-4 and had the only RBI on the day. The rest of the hits were scattered about between several other players.
The Dodgers fall back to .500 while the Diamondbacks are now four games over. They've taken a two game lead on the Dodgers now in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to take a game back tomorrow at 7:40 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp went 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games... Perhaps I was wrong about this one: Mark Sweeney now has two hits in his last two at-bats, raising his average to .119
Opinion: Today was the last day of the old Dodgers, Manny Ramírez should be in L.A. tomorrow in time for the game to save us all! Seriously though, this isn't a litmus test for the season: the Dodgers have never hit well against Brandon Webb (9-3 career lifetime against us with a 2.65 ERA in 15 starts). Tomorrow will be an interesting game. Will Manny adjust to the National League right away? I guess we'll find out. Meanwhile, Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News speculates that Delwyn Young could be Designated For Assignment to open a roster spot for Manny. God, I hope not. He also said it's a possibility Sweeney could be DFA'd. I'd like to think that would be the logical move, but then again, there haven't been too many logical moves this year to set a precedent (ie. playing certain people in center field for so long holding on to hope they'll pull our of their season long slump, starting Juan Pierre in left field constantly [which coincidentally, I wouldn't be surprised to see continue], or creating a gaping hole in our infield for next season), so why start now?
The Dodgers rally for five runs in the 9th to win the game and the series and jump back into a 1st place tie.
Ramon Troncoso got the win, he's 1-1. Brandon Lyon lost, he's 2-4. Jonathan Broxton got his 2nd save.
Derek Lowe had a fairly weak start for the Dodgers, he went just 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and three walks. Ramon Troncoso pitched a strong two innings, striking out five and giving up no hits or walks to put him in position to get the win. Broxton gave up one run in the 9th, but settled down and closed out the game.
The Dodgers struggled all day against Brandon Webb, who coming into the game had a 9-3 career record against the Dodgers with a 2.78 ERA in 14 starts. He went eight innings, giving up just one run while getting 16 groundball outs. The Dodgers then exploded against Diamondback closer Lyon, who got into trouble in the 2nd game of the series, but ultimately shut the Dodgers down. Today, however, they rallied for five runs against him, though one run was cashed in on a hit given up by Leo Rosales, in to relieve Lyon. Andy LaRoche, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Russell Martin all collected 2-out RBIs in the 9th, and Kemp had an especially good at-bat against Lyon, fouling off multiple pitches before driving a ball into the left-center gap to drive in the tying run.
With the win, the Dodgers end up two games under .500, but tied for 1st in the NL West. The Dodgers will now travel to Colorado to face the Rockies for a three game series starting tomorrow.
The Dodgers were unable to mount any offense until the 9th inning, but by then, it was too little too late as they lose the game and fall a game behind the Diamondbacks.
Dan Haren got the win, he's 9-5. Chad Billingsley lost, he's 9-9. Brandon Lyon picked up his 20th save.
Billingsley had an average start stats wise, but was unimpressive in general. He went 5 and 2/3 innings on 114 pitches. He gave up seven hits and three walks, but was lucky only to give up three runs. 
Joe Beimel followed with 1 and 1/3 innings of scoreless ball and Cory Wade pitched a scoreless 8th to keep the D-Backs to three runs.
Dan Haren, meanwhile, kept the Dodger offense in check, allowing only six baserunners over seven innings of work while striking out seven. The Dodgers finally broke through in the 9th against Arizona closer Brandon Lyon. Jeff Kent hit a monster homerun to left center field and Delwyn Young had a huge double of the big wall in center field to plate a second run, but after getting to 3rd base with two outs, Matt Kemp flew out to right to end the game.
The Dodgers will try tomorrow to win the rubber match of the series, and get themselves back into a 1st place tie.
The Dodgers out-slugged the Diamondbacks in their first game back from the All-Star break to move back into a tie for first place.
Cory Wade picked up the win, he's 1-1. Doug Slaten took the loss, he's 0-3. Jonathan Broxton picked up his first save of the year.
Hiroki Kuroda had a bad start, going just two innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on a walk and eight hits. Jason Johnson, in his first game since being called up from Triple-A (and his first major league game since September 2006) to replace the injured Takashi Saito, went the next three innings giving up just one run. Six other pitchers (including Broxton in his first save situation since taking over for Saito)
out of the Dodger bullpen combined over the next six innings to hold the D-Backs to seven runs. Cory Wade got the first win of his career by pitching a scoreless 10th inning before the Dodgers took the lead in the 11th.
The Dodger offense flashed a little power in the game. They had four homeruns: two from Nomar Garciaparra (who had three hits and three RBIs in the game), a game-tying homerun from Matt Kemp in the 7th, and a go-ahead homerun from James Loney in the 11th. The Dodgers were also able to score five runs (four earned) against Dodger nemesis Doug Davis. Davis coming into the game was 4-2 in six career starts against the Dodgers, with a 1.33, but lasted only three innings today.
The Dodgers get back to within two games of .500, but more importantly, they brought the D-Backs down to two games under .500 and into a tie for first place. They've got two more games now to see where they can go from here.
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).
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.
