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.
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.
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.
