Manny Ramirez delivered the type of game he wanted against his old mates. It wasn't enough, however, as the Red Sox scrapped together a run in the ninth to win again, 5-4. The Dodgers remain a game back of the Padres in the NL West.
Vicente Padilla made his way back from being on the DL for two months to get the start. He got through the first three hitters in a good sign.
The Dodgers took an early lead in the second. Manny started it by singling to left off of Tim Wakefield. Amazingly, he then stole second as James Loney struck out. Of course, it helps when the opposing pitcher is throwing a knuckleball. Garret Anderson scored him with an RBI single.
The Sox got that run right back in the bottom of the frame. With Victor Martinez on second, Daniel Nava hit an RBI double to tie the game.
In the third, the Dodgers blew a golden opportunity to score. Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro both had errors throwing too high to first. Remember how I just said how it was easy to steal a base off a knuckleballer? Well, I guess it's not for Matt Kemp, who was easily gunned out trying to take second. That was pathetic. He now has 10 steals and 10 times caught stealing. Last year, he had 34 steals and eight caught.
With Kemp getting gunned down, Andre Ethier struck out to end the inning. Those are a couple of bad trends that we've seen way too much lately. Ethier's average has tumbled down to .323.
Martinez made his presence felt again in the fourth. Kevin Youkilis singled to lead off, and Martinez hit a two-run shot to give the Sox the lead, 3-1.
Both teams traded homers in the sixth. Manny connected on one over the Green Monster to cut the deficit to 3-2. No doubt that had to feel great for him. Actually, maybe it didn't, as he probably could care less about how the fans feel about him. Youkilis got that run back by hitting one himself.
The game became tied in the seventh, starting with Anderson's double. Blake DeWitt followed an out later with an RBI double, and it was 4-3. DeWitt went to third on Bill Hall's error, and Kemp's sac-fly RBI tied the game at 4-4.
Hong-Chih Kuo struck out David Ortiz with a couple men on to end the seventh. Kuo then struck out two more in the eighth to keep the game tied.
Anderson again singled to start the ninth off of Jonathan Papelbon. Three straight outs came next, though. Anderson went 3-for-4 in his best game as a Dodger. Maybe being in an American League stadium brought back good memories. He is a career .331 hitter at Fenway.
Ronald Belisario was called on to keep the game tied in the ninth. Hall singled leading off, but the next two hitters were retired. Scutaro then drew a walk to keep the inning alive.
Joe Torre then brought in Jonathan Broxton to get one big out. After getting two easy strikes on Dustin Pedroia, an RBI single to right ended the game.
Despite being handed four errors by some very shaky Sox' defense and stealing three bases, the Dodgers couldn't get the job done late in the game. They didn't get the kind of production up and down the lineup that it takes to beat a good team like the Sox. Manny and Anderson combined to go 5-for-8 with three runs, one homer, two RBIs, and one steal.
The rest of the lineup? 1-for-24. Yikes!
Padilla didn't have a great final line, but showed some good signs of being healthy again. He finished at 5 1/3 innings, five hits, four runs, one walk, and four strikeouts. Obviously, the two home runs hurt him. Still, it was good to see him back and have good movement on his pitches.
As for Broxton, it was pretty disappointing that he couldn't get Pedroia out in such a big spot. Broxton is still one of the best closers in the game no doubt. But, he needs to find a way to get that game into extra innings, especially with a two-strike count.
The Dodgers have a chance to get something out of this series on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. It's a good pitching matchup as Hiroki Kuroda takes on Clay Buchholtz. Kuroda's coming off two fantastic starts, and Buchholtz has nine wins and a 2.67 ERA. This should be a good one.
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