Manny! Manny! Manny!

This pinch-hitting thing is sure working out well for Manny Ramirez.

With the Giants clinging to a 1-0 lead in the eighth, Manny came up with one down and deposited a two-run homer to deep left, putting the Dodgers up for good, 2-1. The win gave the Dodgers two of three from the first place Giants.

Forced to sit out the game for the second straight day with a tight right calf, Joe Torre picked the perfect time to give him a shot to make a difference. And that he did. It was his second career pinch-hit homer. His first? Who could ever forget his grand slam against the Reds last July.

A pair of southpaws, Clayton Kershaw and Barry Zito, threw up blanks for the first six innings. Kershaw ended up going seven innings for four hits, one run, four walks, and seven strikeouts. Zito went 7 1/3 innings, four hits, one run, one walk, and three strikeouts. Both men were pretty dazzling all day long.

There's not much to report about for most of the game, as both teams would put a man on here and there, but get nothing. The third was the only time two men reached base, as Nate Schierholtz and Edgar Renteria got on, but Pablo Sandoval struck out to end that.

In the seventh, Juan Uribe was the first person to get his team on the board with a solo homer to left. Andre Ethier led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, but Matt Kemp, Casey Blake, and Ronnie Belliard left him stranded.

The eighth is an inning the Giants will be kicking themselves about, as they had a chance to really blow the game open. Kershaw started the inning, but was quickly yanked after walking Eugenio Valez. Jeff Weaver came in, and Renteria sacrificed Valez over to second, then Sandoval was given the intentional pass.

Out went Weaver, and in came George Sherrill, who's endured his fair share of beatdowns already this season. But this time, he got Aubrey Huff to fly out to left. Ramon Troncoso then came in and beaned Bengie Molina to load the bases. Thankfully, Uribe grounded into a force play to end that threat.

The Dodgers made sure that would come back to haunt the Giants, as they finally cashed in in the bottom half. With one down, Garrett Anderson drew a walk in what would be Zito's last hitter of the day.

Blake DeWitt came in to pinch-run, but it wouldn't matter. Sergio Romo was given the task of getting Manny out, but it didn't work. Manny's homer was No. 548, tying him with Mike Schmidt for 14th all-time.

Jonathan Broxton got his first save of the season after waiting nearly two weeks for a chance. He put the Giants down in order.

The Dodgers have only played .500 ball at this point with a 6-6 record, but this was a good weekend. They should've had a blowout win on Friday if it wasn't for Russ Ortiz, got crushed on Saturday, and won a squeaker today. The Giants came into this series with only two loses, so it's good to see the Dodgers take it to them.

After a 4-2 homestand, the Dodgers will once again make a trip out east. They'll use a travel day on Monday, then play for 13 straight days. The first nine days will be on the road against the Reds, Nationals, and Mets, before returning home for four against the Pirates. Chad Billingsley will take the hill on Tuesday.