A tale of 2 defenses

The Dodgers managed to throw the ball away twice in one play early in the game.

Good thing that two fantastic catches later in the game helped make up for it.

Matt Kemp and Xavier Paul flashed some serious leather, and a two-run sixth broke a tie that led to the Dodgers winning, 4-3. The Dodgers took two of three from the Rockies, and have won four of six this year.

Both teams got on the board in the first inning. With two outs, Kemp drew a walk from Jhoulys Chacin. James Loney followed with a double that just got Kemp to the plate in time, and it was 1-0.

Clayton Kershaw was either all over the place or striking everyone out. In the first, it was a combination of both. For the second straight day, Carlos Gonzalez was beaned leading off. With one down, Jason Giambi walked. Troy Tulowitzki hit an RBI single to tie the game, and Chris Iannetta followed with one an out later to go up 2-1.

In between all of that, Kershaw struck out the side. In fact, he struck out nine in five innings, giving up only those two runs. He still walked four and gave up four hits, so it was a bit of a wild start for him.

The game became tied in the third. It was Kershaw who singled to lead off, and Rafael Furcal bunted his way on next. Russell Martin was then beaned to load the bases. Kemp looked pretty lost in striking out swinging for one down. Loney got another RBI with a sac-fly, but Casey Blake struck out swinging to only get one run in.

Then the Dodgers' defense looked like a Little League team on one play in the bottom of the third. With Giambi on again from a walk, Tulowitzki hit an infield single to Raffy. Raffy tried to get Giambi at second, but threw it away. Loney picked it up and fired to third... only to have the ball get away to put runners on second and third.

Somehow the Dodgers wiggled out of the inning from a lineout to first and strikeout.

The defensive switch would be flipped in the fifth. The bases were loaded on a single and two walks with two outs. Iannetta then hit one hard that was sinking to center. Kemp showed why he won a Gold Glove last year with an awesome diving catch to end the inning.

Sure enough, the bats came alive right after that. Blake started it with a double, then Paul singled to right to score him. A single by Reed Johnson put Paul on third, who then scored on Blake DeWitt's RBI forceout.

With Kershaw already at 98 pitches after five innings, the lead would be be left up to the bullpen. And protect the lead they did, starting with Ramon Troncoso pitching a scoreless sixth. Hong-Chih Kuo got some help on a great leaping catch by Paul in the seventh to rob Gonzalez. Ronald Belisario got a double play ball from Iannetta to end the eighth.

The ninth got interesting when Jonathan Broxton came in. Ian Stewart greeted him with a double. Todd Helton pinch-hit and struck out, much like Manny Ramirez did earlier.

With one out and one on, Blake committed his ninth error of the season to put two on. Gonzalez scored a run on a fielder's choice, and it was 4-3. With two outs, Broxton got Ryan Spilborghs to ground to second to end the game.

Judging by how wild Kershaw looked early in the game, it looked like it could be a long day. But, once Kershaw somewhat settled down, the offense and bullpen came through. Manny sat out (not that he's set the world on fire lately anyway), and Andre Ethier sat out for what looks to be the final time as he should be back on Monday.

As for the defense, they rank dead last in the entire majors with a .978 fielding %. But, when they needed to make a big play, they did. Kemp and Paul's grabs were just huge. Especially Kemp's, because without that play with the bases loaded, the Rockies would most likely have won.

At 28-22, the Dodgers now begin a 13-game homestand. It starts with the Diamondbacks for three, who have struggled all this year. Chad Billingsley will look to get his seventh win.