Derek Lowe got the win, he's 14-11. Jeff Karstens took the loss, he's 2-6.Derek Lowe tried to, and almost matched Hiroki Kuroda's performance from yesterday. He went seven innings, giving up just one run on five hits, while striking out three. Chan Ho Park pitched a scoreless 8th, and the bullpen gave up a run in the 9th before ultimately closing out the game.
Casey Blake had an excellent offensive game for the Dodgers. He went 3-5 with a homerun, a triple, two RBIs, and two runs scored.
He fell just a double short of the cycle. Manny Ramírez had a good game as well. He went 3-5 with a double and an RBI. Blake DeWitt went 2-4 with a sac-fly, an RBI, and a run scored. Russell Martin had an interesting game. He went 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base, a sac-fly, an RBI, and a run scored.The Arizona Diamondbacks are currently scoreless through the 1st inning, playing against San Francisco in Arizona. For now, the Dodger lead in the NL West is five games.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move up to seven games over .500 (79-72)... With the win, the Dodger Magic Number is now 8.
Opinion: The Magic Number is starting to get awfully small... I like it. I'm glad the Dodgers are still taking care of business against the Pirates. Two games down, two to go.
I don't want to get too ahead of myself, because I find that making predictions never seems to end too well. Chances are that you end up wrong, and if you, by chance, end up right, you often just look lucky. That said, I'd like to say that the Dodgers will clinch the division by Sunday. We have two more games against the Pirates, then three against the Giants back at Dodger Stadium. In all honesty, we should (read: should) win these next five. That brings the Magic Number to 3. Arizona plays San Francisco three more times, including tonight. Then they play Colorado, in Colorado over the weekend. I'm going to go ahead and make the prediction that they will lose three of those games. I'm thinking two in Colorado, and the Giants, behind Tim Lincecum on Thursday, should take care of them. Again, predictions never seem to work out, but hey, it doesn't hurt to hope... Los Angeles Dodgers: 2008 NL West Champions (Sunday, September 21st, 2008). I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.EDIT: Diamondbacks beat the Giants, so back to a 4.5 game lead for the Dodgers and no ticks off the Magic Number... til tomorrow...
