Baseball is a game of inches

A few of those inches was all it took for the Dodgers to get a win.

Garret Anderson, who's pretty much done a big pile of nothing all season, was barely able to land a single in front of the outstretched Chris Young in center to score Matt Kemp in the 14th inning to give the Dodgers a win, 1-0. That hit completed a three-game sweep and sent the Diamondbacks to their 10th straight loss.

Much like the night before, hits were at a premium, as neither pitching staff would budge. Today's starters were Edwin Jackson and Carlos Monasterios. For Jackson, he looked more like the young phenom that he once was with the Dodgers and less like the punching bag he turned into. He went nine innings for three hits, no runs, three walks, and six strikeouts.

Monasterios was once again effective in his spot start. Well, he was better than that, as he pitched five innings for two hits, no walks, and three strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 1.87 with a 1.04 WHIP.

On the previous night, the Dodgers didn't score until the 10th, but managed to get at least one hit every inning. That would not be the case today, as they got seven hits on the day with five walks.

The game was moving along at a brisk pace for much of the game. In fact, Jackson faced the minimum amount of hitters through seven innings. He got two double plays, and Jamey Carroll was gunned out trying to stretch a single into a double in the fourth. Not quite like Roy Halladay, but still very impressive.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers had their first big scoring opportunity. With two outs, Carroll (who went 3-for-5 with a walk) singled and stole second. Kemp drew a walk to bring up Andre Ethier. Ethier got good wood on it, but lined to first.

James Loney hit a double to start the bottom of the 10th, and the Dodgers looked to be in business. But, Anderson had a horrible at-bat by striking out and failing to advance the runner. Ronnie Belliard then drew a walk. Both Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin pinch-hit and popped up to the infield.

The Dodgers wiggled out of trouble in the 12th when the Diamondbacks stranded two runners. In the 13th, Martin walked and Casey Blake singled. Carroll came within inches of ending the game with a liner to left that was just foul. He then struck out.

After the Diamondbacks again failed to capitalize on putting two runners on, the Dodgers brought up the heart of their order. If they were ever going to score, now was the time. Kemp started it all with a hard single to center.

Ethier then lined to third for one out. Loney stepped in, and a wild pitch allowed Kemp to go to scoring position. Loney grounded to second to put Kemp on third. Desperately needing to do SOMETHING right, Anderson just dropped one in front of Young to end the game.

I mentioned Monasterios and his good start, but the bullpen deserves a whole boatload of credit. Travis Schlichting got the win by pitching four innings of shutout ball. He was just awesome. Before him, Ramon Troncoso went an inning, Justin Miller two, and Jonathan Broxton and Ronald Belisario one each.

Winning late is always a sign of a good team. The offense has largely been non-existent the last couple of games, and it's something that needs to improve with the Braves and Angels coming to town. But, with Ethier still getting back into form and a few regulars sitting out today, it's hard to get too critical.

Like I said, the Braves are now on their way in for four. As lousy as the Diamondbacks have been, the Braves have been red hot. They just swept the Phillies to overtake first place in the NL East. They've also won eight straight.

So, it'll be a nice challenge for both teams. Hiroki Kuroda scuffled all last start against the Rockies, so he'll look to figure things out against Kris Medlen.