Dodgers rally against the 'pen to win Game 2

Pedro Martinez mowed down the Dodgers through seven innings in a flashback to his Cy Young days.

Luckily for the Dodgers, he's older now, and got yanked.

Down 1-0 entering the eighth, the Dodgers rallied for two against five Phillies' pitchers to squeak one out, 2-1. The series is now tied at one with the next three games scheduled for Philadelphia starting Sunday night.

The Phillies had a chance to take full control of this series, as Pedro was just untouchable. He picked up right where he left off the last time he pitched in the postseason, which was Game 3 of the 2004 World Series against the Cardinals. For those of you that have forgotten, that was the year the Red Sox finally broke their curse.

Vicente Padilla, on the other hand, was just as electric. He more than justified getting a Game 2 start. He lasted 7 and 2/3 innings, giving up four hits, one run, one walk, and six strikeouts. Combined with his seven innings of shutout ball against the Cardinals in the NLDS, he's been absolutely outstanding this postseason.

The one blemish for Padilla came in the fourth. After Chase Utley grounded out to first, Ryan Howard came up. Howard took an outside breaking ball and hammered it out to right-center, putting the Phillies up 1-0.

I would love to talk about the Dodgers' offense against Pedro, but there's just not much to say. They only managed two measly hits, which were a bloop single to center by Russell Martin and a single by Matt Kemp off of Pedro's glove. And that, my friends, is it.

After James Loney flew out to deep center to end the seventh, and with Pedro's pitch count at 87, Charlie Manuel turned the slim lead over to his bullpen. As they've done all season long, it turned into an adventure.

It all started when Casey Blake, who had been 0-for-7 and looked awful at this point, singled off of Pedro Feliz's glove at third to greet Chan Ho Park. With Juan Pierre pinch-running, Ronnie Belliard managed to push a bunt past both Park and Howard for two on.

Here's where the Phillies' defense let them down. Martin grounded one to Feliz, who fired to Utley for the forceout. For some reason, Utley then rushed his throw to first, and once again it was nowhere near Howard. Pierre came around to tie the game at one.

Scott Eyre came in, and Jim Thome singled. Ryan Madson then came in, and he walked Rafael Furcal to load the bases. All Kemp needed was at least a sac-fly, but he struck out for two down.

Now J.A. Happ was in to face Andre Ethier, who found himself quickly down 0-2. Ethier battled back for a full count, and walked on a low pitch to score Martin, making it 2-1. Manny Ramirez had a quiet day, and he popped up to end the inning.

Jonathan Broxton faced the top of the order, but he had no problems. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino grounded out, and Chase Utley flew out on a liner to Ethier to end it.

Needless to say, this was a huge win for the Dodgers. Had they lost, it would have been close to impossible to beat the Phillies four out of the next five. Now, it becomes a best-of-five series, with the Phillies grabbing home field.

The Dodgers closed out the Cardinals with ease to end the first round, so they should have plenty of confidence in getting home field back. Then again, the Phillies should feel good as well, as they were only a couple of good innings away from being up 2-0.

Hiroki Kuroda makes his return to the rotation on Sunday. He'll need to be on top of his game, as Cliff Lee gets the ball for the Phillies. The Dodgers managed to score on Cole Hamels, so it's not out of the question to get some runs off of Lee. Still, the Dodgers will need to put together a complete effort to get the win.