Sunday afternoon was a good test for the Dodgers. They had their "A" lineup in, and the Giants did as well. Tim Lincecum, the reigning Cy Young award winner, was on the mound, which was sure to provide a playoff-like test. How would the Dodgers respond?
Quite nicely, thank you very much.
Andre Ethier hit a two-run homer, Ronnie Belliard a two-run single, and the Dodgers put together a great effort in getting their 90th win, 6-2. The Rockies also won, as they beat the Diamondbacks, 5-1. The lead in the NL West remains at five games.
On the flip side, the Giants have fallen 9 and 1/2 back in the West and 4 and 1/2 in the Wild Card. They have some work to do to if they want to be in the playoffs.
Today's game was a testament to how great of a season this has been for L.A. To beat a pitcher as great as Lincecum, and rather handily at that, to go 90-60 shows why the Dodgers have been a first-place team all year long.
Andres Torres had a big day for the Giants, and he was the only one to score for his team. He led off the game with a solo home run off of Randy Wolf for the 1-0 lead, and later added another solo shot. The Giants put a couple of men on with one out, but Wolf got a big double play off the bat of Bengie Molina to limit the damage.
The third is when the bats went to work, and it all started with a walk to Wolf. That proved to be very costly, as with two outs, Ethier connected on his 31st of the season, as well as his 101st RBI. Wow, what a year it's been for him.
The next inning, Matt Kemp and James Loney found holes in the infield for singles to lead off. Casey Blake was called upon to sacrifice, and he did it to perfection for two runners in scoring position. Belliard continued his hot play with a two-run single, making it 4-1.
The Dodgers never looked back from there, and ended up adding a couple of more runs along the way. Rafael Furcal scored both of them on wild pitches, one in the fifth and the other in the seventh.
Wolf made big pitches all day long, further validating most likely being the first starter used in the playoffs. Overall, he lasted six innings for five hits, two runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. He's now 11-6 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. I knew he'd be a good addition when he signed in the winter, but who would have thought he'd be this good? I doubt many.
Hong-Chih Kuo, George Sherrill, and Jonathan Broxton teamed up to emphatically shut the door. They went three perfect innings, striking out four. Opposing teams are not going to want to deal with that combination at the end of games in the postseason, that's for sure.
The Dodgers get an off day Monday for travel before settling in for three in Washington. They have a very favorable week upcoming with the Nationals and Pirates. The trick, as it always is against bad teams, is to not play down to their level.
Hiroki Kuroda will go in the first game against Livan Hernandez, who's 276-years-old.
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