Hiroki Kuroda got the win, he's 1-0 in the NLDS. Rich Harden took the loss, he goes 0-1 in the NLDS. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 1st save of the NLDS.Hiroki Kuroda continued his good pitching against the Cubs. He went 6.1 scoreless innings, giving up six hits and two walks while striking out four over that span. Cory Wade pitching 1.1 innings in relief, allowing a run. Jonathan Broxton struck out three in his 1.1 innings of work to close out the game and pick up the save.
Offensively, James Loney drove in two important runs. Despite going 3-14 in the series, he collected six RBIs. He went 1-4 in the game, but the one hit was a two RBI double. Russell Martin had a similar series. Martin went 2-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and a run scored. He went 4-13 with a homerun, three doubles, and five RBIs in the series. Finally, Manny Ramírez went 1-2 with two walks and a run scored in the game. He had a good series as well. He went 5-10 with two homeruns, three RBIs, four walks, and five runs scored.The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers today to win their series 3-1. The Dodgers will face off against the Phillies now in the NLCS for a chance to go to the World Series. They split eight games (4-4) in the regular season.
Opinion: That's how you handle business. Bury the Cubs. Don't even give them a chance to come back. Now use this momentum. Carry it on to the NLCS against the Phillies. One down, two to go... I was at the game last night, and it was pretty amazing. You can feel the energy radiating through the stadium. Every strike, every out, every hit, was met with cheering and applause. There is a constant level of noise that grows to be ten times as loud as the game goes on. When Broxton was pitching the 9th, the stadium was as loud as I've ever heard it. There's camaraderie. You are high-fiving and yelling and celebrating with people you've never met before. It's pretty amazing... One more thing, I'm really tired of all the sports writers who say Dodger fans leave the game early.
Dodger fans don't leave the game early. The people who leave the game early aren't Dodger fans. Dodger fans stay till the very end of the game. Dodger fans are the people who show up for a playoff game. Dodger Stadium was filled with 56,000 fans yesterday. And 56,000 fans stayed till the very last pitch, and most stayed even after that. Real Dodger fans don't leave the game early to beat traffic. They don't leave in the 7th inning. So stop refering to Dodger fans as people who leave the game before it's over. Call them "Game Attendees" or something like that, but don't insult real Dodger fans by calling them so. I, and all the other fans, are tired of it.