The Dodgers rode back-to-back jacks from Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier in the 1st to cruise to an easy victory over the Diamondbacks, 7-2. The win not only puts the Dodgers at 19-8, but sets a National League mark by winning their first 11 at home. Next up is the MLB record of 12 set by the 1911 Detroit Tigers.
I'd say that signing of Manny has worked quite nicely.
The runs were scored in plenty of different ways: homers, doubles, errors, and sac-fly's. They also managed to go 1-10 with RISP and hit into a triple play by Casey Blake. Plus their pitcher is a fill-in until Hiroki Kuroda comes back. And they still won by 5. Everything that could go right is right now for LA.
After Stults worked around a double by Connor Jackson to start the game, Manny and Ethier hit solo shots with 2 down to grab the early lead. A Josh Wilson single in the 2nd would cut the lead to 2-1.
The bottom of the 2nd is when Russell Martin walked and Matt Kemp reached on an error by Wilson. With the runners on the move, Wilson made a nice backhanded catch of a liner, which he turned to 2nd then on to 1st to get 3. The Dodgers rolled the dice and paid for it, but with the way they've been putting up runs, it was worth the gamble. It obviously didn't hurt them in the end.
The 5th brought in 2 more runs thanks to the sac-fly. Kemp and Blake singled to start, and after Kemp stole 3rd, Stults got a fly ball deep enough to score him. Manny eventually lifted one to right field that plated Blake, and it was 4-1.
Mark Reynolds cut into that with a homer to make it 4-2 in the 6th. The Dodgers got right back to work, though, when Martin singled and scored on a double by Kemp. Tony Clark's error off the bat of Rafael Furcal scored Kemp to put the game away. The 7th run was scored on a double by Manny.
Stults improved to 3-1 by being efficient, going 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Nothing special, but for the bottom of the rotation, it's plenty good enough. The bullpen of Ronald Belisario, Guillermo Mota, Cory Wade, and Jonathan Broxton gave up only 1 hit the rest of the way. Wade's return has really sparked them as that's a very solid unit right now.
On the line tonight is a share of the MLB record with the Tigers. Jeff Weaver makes his return to the starting rotation to the Dodgers for the first time since 2005. I'm glad to see him stick it out after suffering through the Minors last season, because they need his arm to give them innings right now.
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