Manny Ramirez paved the way with 3 doubles, and the Dodgers scored 2 runs in the 9th to break open a 3 all tie as they beat the Giants, 5-3. The win gives them a 2.5 games cushion in the NL West.
The Dodgers got their first 2 runs thanks to some shoddy D by the Giants. In the 2nd, Andre Ethier reached on left fielder Fred Lewis' error. Matt Kemp hit a sac-fly to get him over, and James Loney singled him home. Later in the 4th, Ethier singled and went to 2nd on a wild pitch. With one out, shortstop Juan Uribe's throwing error allowed Loney to reach and Ethier to score.
Not that the Dodgers didn't give away one on their own, because they did. In the 3rd, Lewis was beaned, went to 2nd on a single, 3rd on a wild pitch, and scored on Rafael Furcal's error. So ya, not exactly a game that Little Leaguers should watch for how to play clutch defense with runners on base.
With the game tied at 2 in the 7th, the Dodgers temporarily took the lead on a bases loaded walk to Loney. So the Dodgers responded by... surrendering a bases loaded walk to Rich Aurilla to tie it again. Not pretty.
Bob Howry was called upon for the Giants to start the 9th, and the Dodgers got to him. Manny hit double #3 to start it off. Russell Martin K'd, but Manny went to 3rd on a wild pitch. Ethier doubled to deep center for the 4-3 lead. Matt Kemp did him one better by unleashing a triple for an insurance run, and that was all she wrote. Will Ohman pitched a perfect 9th for his first save.
Chad Billingsley went deep into the game, and once again was very effective, finishing at 7.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. He got a no-decision, however, ending his season-opening consecutive win streak at 4 games. Jonathan Broxton got the win, but a blown save with it as well. Not entirely his fault as Bills let 2 on with 1 out in the 8th, and Broxton gave up the walk to score a run.
To show how well the Dodgers have played so far, if they lost this game, it would have been a season-high 3 straight games. To their credit, they found a way to win another close game. They still ran into trouble in the 8th (maybe I should just close my eyes during the 8th), but it didn't haunt them. They responded quite well to it.
Tonight will be the real challenge facing Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. They luckily avoided him nearly all of last season, but the one game they did face him resulted in a 13 K, 3-1 loss. While he started the year slow, he's been money the last 2 games. If Eric Stults can somehow find a way to beat him, that'll be a huge bonus.
No comments:
Post a Comment