Kemp hammers game-winner in 8th

Matt Kemp looks to be locked in again. And that's a scary thought for the rest of the league.

Kemp nailed a huge two-run homer in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie against the Diamondbacks. A great start by Chad Billingsley and bullpen work by Hong-Chih Kuo and Jonathan Broxton made sure it held up in a 3-1 win.

Not surprisingly, the Padres won again, like they always do. Their lead over the Dodgers in the NL West is 3 1/2 games.

As I brought up the other day, Chad Billingsley and Dan Haren both have had sub-par seasons. But, they were also both plenty capable of putting forth good efforts. That was certainly the case today, as both pitched good enough to win.

The game stayed scoreless through three innings. In the fourth, the Diamondbacks struck first. Adam LaRoche doubled leading off. Mark Reynolds then took a fat pitch over the middle of the plate deep to center for a long RBI triple and 1-0 lead.

It took awhile, but the Dodgers finally got a run in the sixth. Sure enough, it was spark plug Rafael Furcal that got it going. He hit a double to lead off. Kemp struck out next for one down. Andre Ethier came through with an RBI single, though he was gunned out trying to stretch to second.

(Is it me, or have I seen way too much of that around baseball this season? Seems like way too many runners are trying to go to second on the throw home and getting nailed.)

With the score knotted at 1-1, the game became a battle of the bullpens. For anyone that has followed the Diamondbacks this season, that has been a huge weakness for them. Once again, it bit them in the behind today.

Kuo struck out the side in the seventh. Aaron Heilman came on to start the eighth, and it didn't work out. With one out, Raffy drew a walk to bring up Kemp. Continuing his recent surge, Kemp crushed a two-run shot to right for his 15th of the season and a 3-1 lead.

Kuo again struck out the side in the bottom of the frame, with Chris Young's double all for naught. Broxton finished the game off with a 1, 2, 3 ninth for his 17th save.

For Kemp, it was another step in the right direction in trying to put a horrible June behind him. He hit a mere .230 that month and generally spent most of his time striking out. But in his last five games, four of them have been multi-hit for nine hits total. He also has three homers and seven RBIs.

With Manny Ramirez on the DL, Kemp couldn't have picked a better time to find his groove at the plate again. Ethier, too, has been hitting much better of late, so things are definitely looking up for the offense.

Billingsley look really strong, going six innings for seven hits, one run, one walk, and eight strikeouts. He was able to get his fastball going early and often. You still never quite know what you're going to get when he takes the mound, but he's lowered his ERA by about a run over his last 10 starts.

The combination of Kuo and Broxton was light-out today. Three innings, one hit, no runs, and eight strikeouts. Wow. Broxton found out he'd be an all-star again today, so it was good to show people why.

The roadtrip was a success with a 5-1 record against the Giants and Diamondbacks. Now it's back home for seven games before the All-Star break. First up is three against the Marlins. John Ely will look for his third straight good start.