Clayton Kershaw got the win, he's 5-5. Mike Ekstrom took the loss, he's 0-1.Clayton Kershaw got into a little trouble and wasn't able to get too deep into the game. He went only 5.2 innings giving up three runs on six hits and two walks, though he did strike out seven over that span. Chan Ho Park came in to relieve and got out of the 6th inning, though he ended up giving a run in the following inning. Cory Wade added a scoreless inning in relief and Scott Proctor struck out the side in the 9th to close the door on the Padres.
Offensively, another big game for the Dodgers. Overall, they collected 12 runs on 17 hits, seven walks, and a hit-batter. 11 different players had hits in the game. Several players had excellent games at the plate. Matt Kemp went 3-6 with two RBIs. Russell Martin went 2-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Manny Ramírez went 2-4 with a walk, a homerun, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Andre Ethier went 2-4 with a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored. And finally, Nomar Garciaparra went 2-3 with a double, a homerun, two RBIs, and two runs scored.The Arizona Diamondbacks lost today, so with the win, the Dodgers move up to four games up on them in the NL West race. The Dodgers will go for the sweep (and possibly a chance to clinch the NL West) tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to eight games over .500 (83-75)... With the win and the Diamondbacks' loss, the Dodger Magic Number is now down to 1... James Loney came into the game as a defensive replacement and went 1-2 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. Those two RBIs bring his team leading total to 89.
Opinion: Dodgers started out slow. They were scoreless for the first three innings, then exploded for 12 runs over the next six. And everyone was contributing, and that's really good to see. Now we have to look forward to tomorrow. The Cardinals did their part to help set us up for the NL West clincher tomorrow night by beating the Diamondbacks tonight. Thank you, St. Louis. Of course, they could help us even more by beating the Diamondbacks in tomorrow's afternoon game and allowing us to clinch before our game even starts. Then again, they probably did enough to get us within one. Our destiny is really in our own hands now. We could sweep the Padres tomorrow and clinch the NL West at home. That would be a great way to end our last home game of the year. Either way, it looks like we are probably going to the playoffs, and that makes me happy...
