Hong-Chih Kuo got the win, he's 4-2. J.C. Romero took the loss, he's 4-4.
Clayton Kershaw had a good start. He went six innings, and gave up three runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out eight (a career high). Joe Beimel (on Joe Beimel Bobblehead Night) pitched a perfect 7th inning, striking out one. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched two scoreless innings to keep the
Phillies to three runs and was the pitcher of record when the game was won in the bottom of the 9th.Matt Kemp had a good day at the plate. He went 3-4 with a double and two runs scored. Casey Blake went 1-3 and had two RBIs. Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with a walk and a RBI. He was also hit by a pitch. Andre Ethier came in the game as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning and stayed in the game. He then came up in the 9th inning with Russell Martin on 2nd base and knocked a single into left field to score Martin and win the game.
The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so they remain one game up on the Dodgers in the NL West. With the win, the Dodgers moved back to one game over .500. The Dodgers will try for their third straight win tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp, with his three hits tonight, moved his average to .302. Other than Manny (who is hitting .476 in limited playing time), Kemp is the only Dodger to currently be batting over .300... Kemp has now collected three hits in each of his last three games... The Dodgers win today was their 60th on the season.
Opinion: A good win for the Dodgers, but again, a small issue with runners left on base. They left 12 runners on base throughout the game. The pitching in the game was excellent today. After giving up a run to the Phillies in each of the first three innings, the Dodgers settled down and shut down the one of the more potent offenses for the next six. And too bad we didn't have as much success this weekend. Had the bullpen not blown those two games, we might very well be in the midst of a six game winning streak. Good though to see us getting some wins against a good ball club. These are the teams we will meet in the playoffs should we get there.
