True, the Dodgers put up 10 runs on the scoreboard, something they haven't done in 3 years. Ok, it was last done on May 3 in Colorado, or just over 2 months ago. But, what cannot be ignored is that routine dropped liner to left by Fred Lewis of the Giants is what gave the Dodgers this win.
Any way you slice it, the Dodgers will gladly take it, as they held on for a 10-7 win. It's their 4th in a row, and 7 of 8 on the road. It's funny how that works out. They play at home at home and look like crap, but hit the road and string together a bunch of wins.
They put themselves into a hole in the 1st, mainly thanks to an error by Derek Lowe, leading to 2 runs. In the 3rd, they responded, mostly due to the wildness of Giants' starter Jonathan Sanchez, who twice walked in runs with the bases loaded. Not exactly the best way to help his own cause.
The Giants were up 5-2 heading into the 5th, but Andre Ethier continued his hot streak by hitting out his 10th homer, tops on the team. That's 3 straight games with a homer (with only 5 RBI to show for it... kind of shows how often the rest of the team gets on base for him). He was red hot coming out of Spring Training, and now he's showing why people are so high on him.
The 6th is when Lewis made the costly mistake to lead off the inning off the bat of the returning Nomar Garciaparra, and it was all downhill for the Giants after that. Delwyn Young singled Nomar home for the 1st run. 3 straight doubles by Ethier, Jeff Kent, and Russell Martin pushed in the other 4 runs for an 8-5 advantage.
Jonathan Broxton came in during the 8th and was shaky, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk, but luckily for him, he induced Rich Aurilla into a double play to somewhat limit the damage. The other runs for the Dodgers were on a Nomar double, and Andy LaRoche's 2nd home run of the year, a solo shot in the 9th.
Takashi Saito pitched a perfect 9th for his 15th save in 18 chances. That's 6 straight scoreless innings since a hiccup on June 20 against Cleveland. He's only given up 3 hits during that time.
A win is a win, but it's hard to ignore what might have been in the 6th had Lewis made that simple play. That changed the whole complexion of the game. Joe Torre wasn't initially happy with the performance, especially when nobody covered 2nd base later in the game when Martin tried to throw out Randy Winn stealing. Like I said before, it wasn't pretty at times, but they'll take it.
Oh, and Andruw Jones made his return, going 0-5 with 4 K's. It's nice to see he's picked up right where he left off, sucking from the beginning of the year and still going strong.
Chan Ho Park gets the call today. It was originally going to be Brad Penny, but he's been pushed back to sometime next week. Park has been fantastic in his spot starts, so he has that going for him. Oh, and Barry Zito is the Giants' starter, perhaps the worst free agent signing in baseball history. I'd say today's game leans towards the Dodgers.
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