The Phillies have two big innings to score eight runs and beat the Dodgers for the second game in a row.
Brett Myers got the win, he's 1-0 in the NLCS. 
Chad Billingsley took the loss, he's 0-1 in the NLCS. Brad Lidge picked up his 2nd save in the NLCS.
Chad Billingsley got lit up. He made it only 2.1 innings, giving up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and three walks. The bullpen held the Phillies scoreless the rest of the game, but by then the damage was too much. High notes for James McDonald, who went 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, and Clayton Kershaw, who went 1.2 scoreless innings.
The Dodgers scored all their runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, but were shut down by the Phillies bullpen for much of the rest of the game. Manny Ramírez went 1-4, but had a three run homerun in the 4th. James Loney went 2-4 with a walk and an RBI. 
Similar to yesterday, there were then some assorted hits and walks here and there, but the Dodgers couldn't capitalize enough to comeback.
With the loss, the Dodgers fall down to 0-2 in the NLCS. They now travel back to Los Angeles to play game three, starting at 5:22 L.A. time on Sunday.
Opinion: That was ugly. Chad Billingsley seemed like he couldn't get a pitch near the zone in the 2nd and 3rd innings without it getting whacked. He's going to definitely need to bounce back from this one if we can continue on in these playoffs... And another thing, how many hits were we going to give up to Brett Myers. He's the pitcher! He had three RBIs and two runs scored today. He was the difference in this game. There is a reason the pitcher bats ninth and is consider an automatic out. It's because he is!!! Geez... It's hard to feel good about these last two games, but I do have some good points. For one, we now have three games at home, where we swept the Phillies earlier in the season. We need to capitalize on this, and put the pressure back on Philly. Secondly, it's not like we are being beaten handily. We've caught some back breaks. 
Yesterday, in the first inning, when Manny hit that ball to the deepest part of the park and it bounced off the top part of the highest wall, he only got a double. If that had gone out, the Dodgers would've had the extra run they needed. Today, Casey Blake sent another ball to the deepest part of the park that was caught at the wall for an out in the 7th. He put enough on the ball that if he just pulled it some more, we could have tied the game. I feel like these games were both winnable, we're just hitting the balls in the wrong places. So... let's just hit them in the right places. Easy enough, right?
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 continue their hot play, and get some excellent pitching to complete the four game sweep.
Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 7-8. Brett Myers took the loss, he's 5-10. Hong-Chih Kuo picked up his 1st save.
Hiroki Kuroda made an excellent start. He went seven innings, giving up just one run on two hits and no walks, while striking out seven. And he did all that on just 79 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. Hong-Chih Kuo pitches two innings in relief, walking one batter, but allowing no hits while striking out two batters to close out the game and pick up the save.
No one Dodger had an incredibly impressive game. Matt Kemp went 1-4 with a solo homerun. James Loney went 1-3 with a triple, a walk, a stolen base, and a run scored. Russell Martin went 1-4, stole a base, and scored a run. Casey Blake went 1-3 with a RBI.
The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will remain in a first place tie in the NL West. With the win, the Dodgers move to three games over .500 at 62-59. They will begin a three game weekend series with the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow at 7:40 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp's homerun was his team leading 14th... Hong-Chih Kuo's save was the first of his career... 
Nomar Garciaparra had an impressive inning defensively in the 3rd when he fielded all three well hit groundballs in the inning (one up the middle, one right at him, and one in the hole). He also had an RBI groundout in the bottom of 2nd prior to that inning... Both hits given up in the game to the Phillies were doubles... This series was the Dodgers' first four game sweep of the Phillies since 1962.
Opinion: Kind of sad that we could be in the midst of an eight game winning streak right now had the bullpen not blown those two games in San Francisco, but I can't be mad at them, as they've more than redeemed themselves in this series. In this series, they've given up only three runs (all in the first game of the series) over 15 and 2/3 innings collecting two wins and two saves over that span while striking out 17 batters... This series was a good statement on the Dodgers ability to play with the big boys. It will be interesting now to see if the Dodgers can carry some momentum over into the next series against the Brewers. Despite being second in their division, they have a better record than the Phillies and are arguably a stronger team... Mark Sweeney came in to pinch hit in the 7th and drew a walk. That's something...
Chad Billingsley took the loss, he's 0-1 in the NLCS. Brad Lidge picked up his 2nd save in the NLCS.
Similar to yesterday, there were then some assorted hits and walks here and there, but the Dodgers couldn't capitalize enough to comeback.
Yesterday, in the first inning, when Manny hit that ball to the deepest part of the park and it bounced off the top part of the highest wall, he only got a double. If that had gone out, the Dodgers would've had the extra run they needed. Today, Casey Blake sent another ball to the deepest part of the park that was caught at the wall for an out in the 7th. He put enough on the ball that if he just pulled it some more, we could have tied the game. I feel like these games were both winnable, we're just hitting the balls in the wrong places. So... let's just hit them in the right places. Easy enough, right?
