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 fall to the Diamondbacks for the second straight game in the four game series.
Randy Johnson got the win, he's 9-7. Chan Ho Park took the loss, he's 4-3. Brandon Lyon picked up his 24th save.
Clayton Kershaw made a good start opposite future Hall-of-Famer Johnson, matching him for six innings. Kershaw gave up only four hits and a walk over those six innings, allowing no runs, and striking out three. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, though, the bullpen allowed two runs. Chan Ho Park gave up a homerun to Tony Clark to lead off the 7th inning. He allowed a few more runners on before being pulled by Joe Torre. Joe Beimel came in and offered no help, giving up an RBI double to Stephen Drew, and a lead to the Diamondbacks that they would be able to hold until the end of the game.
The Dodgers only collected six hits on the day. Manny Ramírez went 2-4, though both hits came in odd circumstances. His first was a shot towards Stephen Drew that saw Drew lift his glove too quickly and the ball travel right under it. The second was a check swing grounder that pulled Tony Clark off the bag enough for a single. 
He also came up in the 9th inning as the winning run, but grounded into a double play. Matt Kemp had the only RBI on the game, a double in the 6th inning that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
With this second straight loss, the Dodgers fall to three games back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West, and fall to a game under .500. The Dodgers can only hope now to win the next two games in this series and cut the deficit in the playoff chase to one game by weekend's end.
Also: Matt Kemp, with his RBI double, went 1-4 today, extending his hitting streak to 19 games... Mark Sweeney's two hits in his last two at-bats streak came to an abrupt end when he struck out swinging pinch hitting in the 8th. His average went down to .118.
Opinion: Not too react too dramatically to just one game, but this is what I'm worried about: having Manny means nothing if the rest of the team still isn't hitting. One player alone cannot carry a team in baseball, that's why a guy like Alex Rodriguez doesn't have any rings. It takes a team, of which Manny should just be a part of. We need to start hitting because we can't keep asking our pitching to win when we only give them one run in support. And seriously, why is Sweeney still on the team?
Derek Lowe got the win, he's 12-11. Dan Haren took the loss, he's 14-8.
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.
