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 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.
Chad Billingsley got the win, he's 14-10. Brandon Webb took the loss, he's 19-7.
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.
