The Giants hold off the Dodgers to take the rubber match of the series and win the last game of the season.
Tim Lincecum got the win, he finishes the season 18-5. Chan Ho Park took the loss, he finishes the season 4-4. Brian Wilson picked up his 44th save of the season.
Hiroki Kuroda started for the Dodgers, and pitched five innings of scoreless ball. He gave up only two hits over that span and struck out three, cementing his place as "Game 3 Starter" in the playoffs. Clayton Kershaw pitched a shaky but scoreless inning out of the bullpen. The bullpen struggled though. Chan Ho Park gave up two runs in only 0.2 innings of work and Cory Wade gave up a run in his 0.1 inning of work.
The Dodgers weren't too impressive at the plate, though that's due to the large amount of players used in the game. 
Also due to the fact that Tim Lincecum gave up only one run over seven innings of work while striking out 13, probably well on his way to picking up a Cy Young award. For the Dodgers, Andre Ethier had the best game at the plate. He started and went 2-2 with a double and an RBI off Lincecum before leaving for a pinch runner. Juan Pierre went 1-4 scoring a run and stealing a base (his team leading 40th of the season). Other than that, there's not much to note.
The Dodgers will now travel home to get ready for the Chicago Cubs, their opponents in the first round of the playoffs. They'll play the first two games of the series in Chicago.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers finish their season six games over .500 (84-78)
Opinion: Aw shucks, couldn't get that 85th win. Oh well, there's bigger fish to fry now. The Chicago Cubs will be our first round opponents in the playoffs. We were swept by the Cubs in a three game series in Chicago in late May, then split a four game series against the Cubs in Los Angeles in early June (for a 2-5 record against them). The important thing to note is that all seven games were played pre-Manny Ramírez, and the Dodgers lost by no more than two runs in each of those five losses. Well, we got a little bit more offense this go around. This match-up is going to be interesting...
The Dodgers, behind the bat of Blake DeWitt and the pitching of Greg Maddux, take the second game in the three game weekend series.
Greg Maddux got the win, he's 8-13. Matt Cain took the loss, he's 8-14. Takashi Saito picked up his 18th save.
Greg Maddux pitched like the Greg Maddux of old. He needed only 47 pitches (38 of which were strikes) to go six innings. He gave up only one run on two hits over those six innings, while striking out two. Chad Billingsley came in to get a little work before the playoffs. He went two scoreless innings in relief. Takashi Saito pitched a perfect 9th, striking out one to get the save and close out the game.
Offensively, the story today was all Blake DeWitt. He went 3-4 with a walk, a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored. There were a few other players to note: Rafael Furcal went 2-4, Andre Ethier went 1-2 with a walk, and Casey Blake went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored.
The Dodgers will try to win the rubber match of the series, and the last game of the regular season tomorrow. The game starts at 1:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move back up to seven games over .500 (84-77)... Greg Maddux's win was the 355th in his career, putting him at 8th on the All-Time Wins list.
Opinion: While this game was meaningless, there were a few good things that came from it. Blake DeWitt showed he can contribute, Greg Maddux showed he might still be able to pitch, and Rafael Furcal showed he still remembers how to hit the ball. DeWitt hasn't been nearly as impressive since his hot month of May, but he's been hitting the ball better lately (hitting .297 in the month of September). Greg Maddux is either completely on his game, or totally off. He's had two excellent starts for us and four not-so-good starts. How he'll do in the playoff remains to be seen, though. 
Finally, Furcal collected his major league basehit since May 5th and had his first multi-hit game since May 3rd. A healthy Furcal will be a big plus in the playoffs... Ok, one more game to go, let's try and win tomorrow. 85 wins would be a nice way to end the season on a high note.
The Dodgers fall in extra innings to lose their second game in a row.
Tyler Walker got the win, he's 5-8. Jason Johnson took the loss, he's 1-2.
Derek Lowe started for the Dodgers and went three scoreless innings. The start was short, of course, to not overwork him before the first game of the playoffs. The Dodgers used eight different pitchers throughout the game. James McDonald relieved Derek Lowe and pitched two scoreless innings. He's now pitched six scoreless innings over four games to begin his major league career. Chan Ho Park gave up two runs in 0.2 innings of relief. His ERA has risen almost a full point from 2.48 on August 24th to 3.23 today. Jonathan Broxton blew a save by giving up an unearned run in the 9th, and Jason Johnson got only two outs in the 10th before giving up the winning run.
The Dodgers used 27 players in the game today. 17 different players had at-bats in the game. There isn't too much that stands out offensively in the game. Manny Ramírez went 2-2 in his only two at-bats in the game. 
Jeff Kent went 1-3 with a homerun, two RBIs, and a run scored. James Loney went 1-4 with his only hit coming on a solo homerun in the 9th inning. Russell Martin had a pinch hit two-run homerun to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead in the top of 9th, which they then proceed to give up in the bottom of the 9th.
The Dodgers will play the second game in this weekend series, starting tomorrow at 6:05 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to six games over .500 (83-77)... James Loney's homerun gave him his team leading 90th RBI.
Opinion: Russell Martin giveth, Russell Martin taketh away. Thanks to Russell Martin's two-out top of the 9th inning homerun, the Dodgers were able to take a 5-4 lead. The Giants, thanks in part to Russell Martin's throwing error, were able to tie the game at 5-5... Whatever, this weekend is pretty much a throwaway weekend. I mean, it's kinda lame to go into the playoffs a 83-80 team, but I'm not sure anyone really cares... One last thing, so is Jason Johnson Joe Torre's "Abort" button. He's thinking: "Hey, we came into town early this morning, didn't get a lot of sleep, I gotta end this game. Hey, Honeycutt, get Johnson up in the pen. This thing is over by the 10th!" Johnson is 1-2 in the season, both losses were extra-inning away games. His first loss was an 11 inning game in St. Louis on August 5th. "I don't want to carry this game on by throwing a good pitcher out there to keep the game tied. I'm tired. Let's get some rest. Unleash Johnson on them!" Ok, I'm done. I'm tired. I'm pushing the Jason Johnson button on my night. I'll see you all tomorrow.
The Giants pitching holds down the Dodgers and they take the rubber match of the weekend series.
Sergio Romo got the win, he's 3-1. Takashi Saito took the loss, he's 4-4. Brian Wilson picked up his 40th save.
Derek Lowe started for the Dodgers and turned in a solid outing, as has been the norm the last two months for Lowe. 
He went seven scoreless innings, giving up just five hits and three walks while striking out seven. Cory Wade added two scoreless innings in relief, and Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless 10th inning to keep the Giants tied. Takashi Saito came in to start the 11th inning and gave up a run, due in part to a questionable call on a close play at 1st base. With a runner on 2nd, Eugenio Velez hit a slow grounder to short. The throw to 1st was close, and he was called safe. Replays, though, showed the throw beat him by half a step. Rich Aurilia, the next batter, then proceeded to collected a base hit and drive in the go-ahead run.
The Dodger offense did not fare too well. They got only nine runners on base the whole game (five hits and four walks) and left eight of them. One runner was thrown out trying to score at home. Andre Ethier went 2-5, collecting two of the Dodgers' five hits. Manny Ramírez drew three of the Dodgers' four walks. The Dodgers last 16 batters were retired in order.
The Arizona Diamondbacks won today, so with the Dodgers' loss, they pull back within 2.5 games in the NL West race. The Dodgers have an off-day tomorrow, then begin a three game series against the Padres at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, starting at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers fall back to six games over .500 (81-75)... The Dodger Magic Number remains at 5 games.
Opinion: Bad series. The Diamondbacks have now picked up two games on us in the last week. We looked so good yesterday... what happened? I, again, look to the bottom of the order. Our 4-9 hitters (nine different players) today went a combined 2-25. That's not good, we need their contributions... The only solice I can take from this whole thing is that we will play our next three games against the third worst team at home, following a day off. The Diamondbacks will travel to St. Louis to play a four game series there. If we play our cards right, and St. Louis gives us just a little help, we could, hopefully, look to clinch the division by Thursday (our last home game of the year). Here's to hoping... Finally, so much for my prediction of clinching the division by today's game. Instead of having our Magic Number at 0, our Magic Number is 5. I was a bit off. Of course, I wasn't expecting Arizona to do so well, nor for us to do so badly. We have only two wins in our last five games. Definitely not the time for us to slow down...
The Dodgers, behind Manny Ramírez's bat, outslug the Giants to even up the series.
Takashi Saito got the win, he's 4-3. Tyler Walker took the loss, he's 4-8.
Hiroki Kuroda had a pretty short start. He went only four innings giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk. He did managed to strike out five over that period though. Chan Ho Park came in to relieve and didn't help much. He allowed an inherited runner to score (attributed to Kuroda) in giving up a hit and two walks. He wasn't able to record an out before being pulled for Joe Beimel. Beimel allowed two of his inherited runners to score (attributed to Park, whose final line was 0.0 innings and two earned runs) before retiring the side. Beimel followed that up by going another scoreless inning (his final line was 2.0 innings, no runs). Takashi Saito and Cory Wade each added a scoreless inning. Jonathan Broxton pitched the 9th and struggled a bit, giving up two runs before getting a strikeout to end the game.
The Dodgers collected nine hits and 11 walks in the game. Matt Kemp went 1-5 with a homerun, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Hiroki Kuroda actually had a pretty good day. He went 2-2 with a run scored. 
The biggest day at the plate came from Manny Ramírez, though. He went 3-4 with a walk, two homeruns, five RBIs, and two runs scored.
The Arizona Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodger lead in the NL West will remain 3.5 games. The Dodgers will try to win the rubber match of the series tomorrow at 1:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the win, the Dodgers move back up to seven games over .500 (81-74)... The win today gives the Dodgers 81 on the season, which guarantees them, at least, a .500 season... Also with the win, the Dodger Magic Number is now 5... The Dodger game today lasted a little over four hours (4:03).
Opinion: So the game was a bit long and a bit messy, but a win is a win. Pitching was a bit shaky, and it has been the last several games. They've given up a combined 25 runs in the last four games (8,3,7,7). That's going to need to improve if and when we get to the playoffs. Other than that, good win tonight. Even better if we go out and take the series tomorrow...
The Dodgers beat up on Greg Maddux and hand the Dodgers a loss in the first game of this three game weekend series.
Barry Zito got the win, he's 10-16. Greg Maddux took the loss, he's 7-13.
Greg Maddux was pretty hittable in his five innings of work. He gave up seven runs on nine hits over that span. James McDonald made his second career appearance and pitched two scoreless innings, though he did give up two hits and a walk over that span. Ramon Troncoso and Jason Johnson added a scoreless inning each.
The Dodger offense couldn't manage much during the game. They collected only six hits and two walks, the only run coming off a Pablo Ozuna homerun in the 8th. Other than that, the only other offensive output came from the top three in the lineup. 
Matt Kemp went 2-4, Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, and Manny Ramírez went 2-4 with a double. And that was pretty much it for the day.
The Arizona Diamondbacks also lost today, so even with the loss the Dodgers remain 3.5 games up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West. The Dodgers will try to even up the series against the Giants tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: With the loss, the Dodgers record falls back to six games over .500 (80-74)... Arizona's loss brings the Dodger Magic Number to 6... Pablo Ozuna's homerun was hit first in over two years (his last one was August 17th, 2006). This comes just four days after Juan Pierre hit his first homerun in about two years as well (his prior homerun came on September 18th, 2006).
Opinion: I get the feeling the Giants would like us to not get to the postseason. It doesn't help that we spotted them seven runs. I'm starting to wonder whether or not Greg Maddux is a solid option for the fifth starter down this final stretch. Maddux now has a 1-4 record with the Dodgers in six starts. Knowing Joe Torre, I wouldn't expect to see a change, but I am a bit uncomfortable with Maddux on the mound... 
Also, what's up with our offense? We could only manage four runs against the Pirates in 12 innings yesterday, and now we can only scratch across one run against Barry Zito (who had a 5.48 ERA coming into today)? I said it yesterday, but that excitement that seemed to be in the dugout seems to be absent. It's feeling a little lifeless these last few days. We gotta get that loving feeling back, if you know what I mean... First things first, can we get a little production out of our 4-9 hitters? A combination of nine different players in those spots went a combined 1-21, with a walk. The one hit was Pablo Ozuna's homerun. Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Manny can't be the only ones who are hitting on the team, otherwise... well... otherwise this happens. We play the Giants five more times this season, no more losses please...
So some stuff happened while I was gone. Here's a quick breakdown.
On Thursday, 20-year-old rookie Clayton Kershaw did what 35-year-old veteran Derek Lowe couldn't, shut down the St. Louis Cardinals.
Brad Penny made a good return Friday and the Dodgers showed some power to win the first game in the series against the San Francisco Giants.
Then we lost the next two games when our bullpen blew the lead late in the game, and while we should have swept the Giants, we ended up losing two out of three. And while we should have been in first place in the NL West by 1/2 a game, we now sit 1.5 games behind the Diamondbacks.
While in Arizona, I did manage to put some bad voodoo on the Diamondbacks. Orlando Hudson is going to be out for the rest of the year with a wrist injury. I was even watching that on Arizona's Fox Sports channel when it happened. Apparently, however, I wasn't in Phoenix long enough, as they picked up Adam Dunn today for stretch run. This is getting interesting.
The Dodgers will start a four game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at 7:10 L.A. time.
The Dodgers get some great pitching and shut down the Giants for the second game in a row, earning the win, and taking the series.
Chad Billingsley got the win, he's 11-9. Jonathan Sánchez took the loss, he's 8-7.
Chad Billingsley had one of his best starts of the year, if not his entire young career. He went the full nine innings, giving up only five hits and no walks, while striking out eight. He shut out the Giants until getting into some trouble in the 9th. 
After giving up a double off the top of the wall to José Castillo, Randy Winn hit looping base hit to left field. Andre Ethier charged the ball as Castillo rounded 3rd and fired a strike to home. Russell Martin made a good block of the plate and applied the tag to end the game and preserve the shutout.
Speaking of Martin, he had a good night with the bat as well. He went 2-3 with a walk, 2 RBIs, and a run scored. Jeff Kent went 2-4 with an RBI double and Matt Kemp went 1-2 with two walks, two stolen bases, and two runs scored.
The Dodgers moved a game above .500 for the first time since May 27th. The Arizona Diamondbacks won again, and so they will remain one game up on the Dodgers going into the big four game series starting tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: With Matt Kemp's single in the 5th inning, he extended his hitting streak to 17 games... Chad Billingsley's complete game shutout was the first of his career... Billingsley's win today was his 11th on the season, good for first place on the team... James Loney had an RBI sac-fly today as well, that gives him 60 RBIs on the season and puts him first place on the team in that category... The Dodgers shut out their opponent for the 10th time this year, which puts the team as a whole in first place in the National League in shutouts.
P.S. I attended the Dodger game tonight, and had a good time. I tried getting into the clubhouse for some post-game interviews but apparently I didn't have the credentials, so sorry, no quotes for this story... maybe another time...
The Dodgers shut down the Giants to take the second game of the series and move back into .500.
Jason Johnson got the win, he's 1-0. Matt Cain took the loss, he's 6-9. Jonathan Broxton picked up his 5th save.
Jason Johnson, who hadn't made a start in the majors in almost two years, pitched an excellent game against the Giants. He went six innings, gave up five hits and no runs, while striking out three and getting 11 groundballs. Chan Ho Park went 1 and 2/3 innings striking out two, and Broxton pitched 1 and 1/3 innings, striking out three to close out the game and pick up his 5th save in five chances.
Overall, the Dodgers managed to get nine hits in the game. Their big inning came in the 6th. Matt Kemp led off with a single, then stole 2nd. Andre Ethier advanced him to 3rd. Jeff Kent lined out. James Loney followed with a clutch 2-out RBI single to left to score Kemp. Casey Blake followed with a double, and in an odd play, Giants left fielder Fred Lewis deflected the ball into the stands to allow Loney to score. Those two runs would prove to be enough though.
The Diamondbacks also won today, so the Dodgers will remain one game back again. They'll take on the Giants tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time in the rubber match of the series.
Also: Matt Kemp went 2-4 with a stolen base and a run scored, extending his hitting streak to 16 games... Jason Johnson's win tonight was his first win since May 28th, 2006... Though Giants catcher Bengie Molina is notoriously hard to steal on, the Dodgers stole four bases in five attempts in the game... The only extra-base hit in the game was Blake's double in the 6th... The only RBI in the game came from James Loney's single as the second run scored was unearned due to error by Fred Lewis... The 6-9 hitters in the Dodger lineup went a combined 1-13 with nine strikeouts, the only hit was Blake's.
The Dodgers fell behind quickly, and then rallied to get close, but ultimately didn't have enough to come back and they lose the first in the three game series.
Kevin Correia got the win, he's 2-5. Hiroki Kuroda took the loss, he's 5-8. Brian Wilson picked up his 28th save.
Kuroda had his third bad start in a row. He went only 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits, though he wasn't helped out by a few questionable calls from the umpires. Since the All-Star break, Kuroda has gone 11 and 2/3 innings giving up 18 runs (17 earned). The Dodgers bullpen did an excellent job, though. Combined, the bullpen today went 5 and 1/3 innings, striking out seven and only allowing a walk over that span.
The Dodgers had all their offense come in the middle of the game. The first 13 batters went 1-13. In the 5th and 6th innings, the Dodgers plated six runs. The Dodgers were retired in order of the next three innings going 0-9. A weird game overall, with the Dodgers getting 4 RBIs combined from the 8th and 9th hitters (Ángel Berroa, Andruw Jones, and MARK SWEENEY with a two RBI double raising his average to .106) Other than that, Casey Blake went 2-4 with two runs scored, and Andre Ethier went 1-3 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.
Arizona also lost today, so even though the Dodgers fall back to one game under .500, they remain one game back in the NL West race. The Dodgers will try to even up the series tomorrow at 7:10 L.A. time.
Also: Matt Kemp went 1-4, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.
The Dodgers take the rubber match of the series and have now won three series in a row.
Brian Falkenborg got the win, he's 1-1. Matt Cain took the loss, he's 5-7. Takashi Saito picked up his 16th save.
Eric Stults started the game and was shaky, giving up seven hits and two walks over four innings. He did, however, only allow two runs (one earned). Brian Falkenborg came in in the 5th inning to relieve Stults who got into some trouble and got out of the inning unscathed. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched two scoreless innings and Jonathan Broxton added a perfect 8th. Saito came in for the 9th and got into some trouble, giving up one run before setting down the Giants and closing the game.
The Dodger offense was pretty good throughout the game as well. James Loney collected three RBIs on two hits (both doubles) and Andre Ethier continued his hot hitting scoring two runs and knocking in one on three base hits. Collectively, the Dodgers had 10 base hits on the day.
The Dodgers will head home to take on the Braves tomorrow, and congratulations to Russell Martin, who was named to his second All-Star game.
I was out of town while the Dodgers took the last three games of the series against the Astros and the first of the series against the Giants. I got back to L.A. just in time yesterday to watch them lose to the Giants. I should go on vacation more often. I'll pick up with game recaps after today's game.
Hiroki Kuroda started for the Dodgers, and pitched five innings of scoreless ball. He gave up only two hits over that span and struck out three, cementing his place as "Game 3 Starter" in the playoffs. Clayton Kershaw pitched a shaky but scoreless inning out of the bullpen. The bullpen struggled though. Chan Ho Park gave up two runs in only 0.2 innings of work and Cory Wade gave up a run in his 0.1 inning of work.
Also due to the fact that Tim Lincecum gave up only one run over seven innings of work while striking out 13, probably well on his way to picking up a Cy Young award. For the Dodgers, Andre Ethier had the best game at the plate. He started and went 2-2 with a double and an RBI off Lincecum before leaving for a pinch runner. Juan Pierre went 1-4 scoring a run and stealing a base (his team leading 40th of the season). Other than that, there's not much to note.
