This one got away. Twice.
The Dodgers blew one-run leads in both the 9th and 12th innings, as the Cardinals won on a walk-off single by Albert Pujols in the 15th to get the win, 3-2.
It was a very frustrating night for the Dodgers, who saw their top two relievers in Jonathan Broxton and Ramon Troncoso unable to hold onto leads. The offense put together 13 hits and seven walks, but only could push two runs across the plate.
Every team goes through slumps, and the Dodgers are now in theirs.
The game was a tight one throughout, as both Clayton Kershaw and Joel Pineiro were just brilliant in their outings. Kershaw went eight innings, giving up no runs on four hits, striking out seven. Pineiro also went eight, giving up one run on six hits, striking out seven as well.
The Dodgers got the lead in the fourth. Casey Blake tripled in front of a diving Ryan Ludwick with one down. James Loney singled to center, part of his 4-for-7 night, to go up 1-0.
That was it for scoring until the ninth. Broxton got Pujols to ground to short on a nice play by Rafael Furcal. Holliday struck out, and all was looking good.
I don't know if I should blame Broxton or just give credit to a Cardinals team that is obviously a whole lot better with Holliday on board, because they just didn't quit. Ludwick singled and went to second on a wild pitch. The wild pitch would be costly, as Colby Rasmus singled on a full count to tie the game.
Blake and Loney singled to open up the 11th. With Blake on third, Matt Kemp lifted a fly ball to right that Blake was just able to tag up and beat home for the 2-1 lead. With two outs, Joe Torre had the option to pinch-hit for Ramon Troncoso, but he chose not to.
Whether you agreed with that choice or not, it proved to be a bad one. Ludwick came through again with an RBI single to left to tie the game at two. Hong-Chih Kuo came on and got the last two outs, highlighted by a diving catch in right by Andre Ethier to end the inning.
Manny Ramirez hit a ground rule double in the 13th, and things got interesting. Ethier was given the intentional pass to pitch to Blake. Blake responded with a sharp single to right. Manny chugged around third and tried to come home, but was gunned out by that damn Ludwick.
With Jeff Weaver on in the 15th, Brendan Ryan lead off with a triple. Jason LaRue pinch-hit, but popped up to Loney for one down. Julio Lugo then worked a walk. Mark DeRosa hit a grounder to Raffy at short, who then got Ryan at home trying to score.
With two down, Pujols was up with runners on second and third. This is where having Holliday obviously paid off, because the Dodgers chose to go after Pujols. Weaver got two strikes, then it went to a full count, where Pujols hit a laser over Kemp's head in center to end this 4 hour and 53 minute game.
Maybe if the Dodgers had won at least one of the first two games, this loss wouldn't have been as big. But man, this was tough to watch. The Dodgers get guys on base, and the Cardinals find ways to get out of it. The Cardinals put men on, and they come through in the clutch.
All three losses can be traced back to one big thing the Dodgers haven't done: timely hitting. For whatever reason, they just haven't been able to push across runs with runners on. The Cardinals have. It's really that simple.
I can only hope the Dodgers get some early runs against Kyle Lohse tonight, because I'm not sure they can handle being in another nail biter. The Cardinals just own them in close games right now. Hiroki Kuroda will go for the Dodgers.
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