After four hours and 13 innings of horrible offensive baseball, James Loney hit a walk-off home run to give the Dodgers the win, 3-2. It was the first time in his career he has pulled this feat, and has only added to his stellar season.
Way back in the first inning, the Dodgers took the lead. Rafael Furcal led off with a single against Mike Pelfrey. Raffy then scampered to third when Pelfrey threw a pickoff attempt to first away. A sac-fly RBI from Xavier Paul made it 1-0.
If you're keeping track, it took the Dodgers two batters to score one run. The 2:1 ratio of hitters to runs would not exactly keep up as the game progressed.
In the fourth, the Dodgers struck again. Blake DeWitt tripled down the right field line leading off. Casey Blake then struck out. For reasons unknown, Jerry Manuel decided to intentionally walk Garret Anderson and his .181 average. Brad Ausmus, making his first start since early April, hit an RBI single up the middle for a 2-0 lead.
Carlos Monasterios was making his seventh start, and he was great. He wasn't flawless by any means, but made big pitches when he needed to. His biggest challenge was in the fourth when the bases were loaded with one down, but Rod Barajas and Pelfrey could not drive anyone in. Monasterios finished with five innings for six hits, no runs, one walk, and three strikeouts.
Like the previous night, the second the starter was pulled, the bullpen was lousy the following inning. James McDonald was brought in to pitch the sixth. After getting Carlos Beltran to fly out, he gave up a double to Ike Davis and walk to Jason Bay. Barajas then hit an RBI single, and it was 2-1.
Out went McDonald, who looked like he had no clue how to get hitters out. In came Jack Taschner. Jeff Francoeur pinch-hit and dribbled one to the mound, but Taschner had no play and the bases were loaded. Jose Reyes tied the game on an RBI single.
Just like that, the game was tied, ruining Monasterios's great effort. Thankfully Travis Schlichting got Luis Castillo to ground into a double play on his first pitch to end the inning.
There was a whole lot of baseball played from the sixth inning on, but it wasn't all that enjoyable. An extra innings nail biter is usually fun to watch, but this was an exception. It seemed like one blown chance after another, which made the game drag more than anything.
The best chance for the Dodgers during extra innings came in the 12th. Blake led off with a single. On a hit-and-run, Anderson bounced one back to the mound, but Oliver Perez threw the ball to center field, putting runners at the corners with nobody out.
Keeping up with the theme of the day, the Dodgers did nothing with it. Russell Martin pinch-hit and grounded out. Andre Ethier fouled out, though it didn't help that he took a second strike on a very questionable check swing. Raffy was intentionally walked, bringing up Jamey Carroll, who grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
At this point, the Dodgers had no more position players left, and only one reliever... George Sherrill. But, Sherrill turned back the clock as he got through the top of the 13th in only nine pitches.
Matt Kemp had a 3-0 count leading off, then weakly flew out to center. Not a problem, said Loney, who smacked one to deep center to end the game. Loney is now hitting .301 with seven homers and 65 RBIs.
The run the starters have been on the last five games has been incredible. Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Vicente Padilla, and Monasterios have combined to throw 35 innings for only three earned runs. Wow.
Even with the hiccup in the sixth, the Dodgers put together an impressive day on the mound. Jonathan Broxton pitched two scoreless innings with the game tied at 2-2. Hong-Chih Kuo had a scoreless inning, and Jeff Weaver two. On the whole, the bullpen gave up two runs in eight innings of work.
Perhaps most impressive was the debut of young Kenley Jansen. He threw absolute gas, hitting the mid-high 90s. He struck out Angel Pagan and David Wright. Beltran grounded out for a perfect inning. It was a small sampling, but he looked like he'll be a factor going forward.
Going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position usually won't win you many games, but the Mets were equally as bad at 3-for-14. The game came down to which team would get that one big hit, and Loney stepped up and delivered.
The Dodgers will look to take three of four on Sunday. Clayton Kershaw will be taking on the surprising R.A. Dickey. It'll be fastball vs. knuckleball at Chavez Ravine.
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