95 wins for the Dodgers

The Dodgers closed out an amazing regular season with a victory over the Rockies, 5-3. The win also gives manager Brad Ausmus an undefeated season.

Ok, so he was only manager for the day, but he'll take a 1-0 record.

Today's game was pretty much a glorified spring training game, as 21 players appeared in total. There were some regulars that started the game: Casey Blake, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Orlando Hudson. They were all subbed out before the end of the game.

Juan Pierre played the whole game, as did Doug Mientkiewicz at first, Chin-lung Hu at short, and A.J. Ellis at catcher. Not exactly your best lineup in the world, but a big first inning off of Jason Marquis put it away early.

Pierre started things with a triple down the right field line. Kemp got beaned and Ethier walked to load 'em up. Blake then hit a two-run single to quickly get the Dodgers the lead. Mientkiewicz hit an RBI single, and Ellis added one as well an out later to go up 4-0.

Like the Dodgers, the Rockies had no reason to play all of their regulars, as the NL playoffs have been set since the Dodgers' win on Saturday night. Brad Hawpe did get a couple of at-bats, however, and he hit a solo homer his first one to make it 4-1.

There wasn't a whole lot else going on until the seventh. Jason Repko was beaned, stole second, then was eventually picked off. Ethier walked in between all of that, and he went to second on Mientkiewicz's single. Hu stroked an RBI double, making it 5-1.

The Rockies made a bit of a run in the next couple of innings, but it wasn't enough. Seth Smith had an RBI double and Paul Phillips an RBI groundout in the ninth. Still, Ramon Troncoso was able to hold on for his sixth save of the season.

The game obviously meant nothing, but it was still good to see the makeshift lineup hit so well. Five runs and 13 hits is not something many people would have expected when the lineups were posted, especially against Marquis. But, it happened, and it was fun to watch.

I mentioned in my last post that Vicente Padilla would not likely get a start in the playoffs, but I failed to remember that Hiroki Kuroda will be out at least for the NLDS. So, Padilla had a chance to impress today, and he did just that.

He went five innings for four hits, one run, no walks, and a whopping 10 strikeouts. Even against a thrown together lineup, that's a fantastic effort. He's definitely thrown his name in contention for a start in Game 3 or 4.

Watching today's game was much more relaxing than if the Dodgers would have lost last night. Joe Torre carried on his tradition of letting a player manage the last game, assuming they have already wrapped up a playoff spot. Today it was Ausmus, who's a future manager no doubt. He didn't have to sweat it out at all.

Monday and Tuesday will be off days. Then, it's back to business on Wednesday for Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cardinals. It'll be Randy Wolf against Chris Carpenter. It's a battle of two guys who have exceeded all expectations this season to post great numbers.

For now, it's time to enjoy these last couple of days (after having no reason to smile the previous week), and look forward to October baseball!