Give Joe Torre credit: he had a vision on how to close out the game, and it was executed to perfection.
Hong-Chih Kuo was unavailable since he pitched yesterday and Jonathan Broxton is still not trusted closing. So Torre used Ronald Belisario, George Sherrill, and Octavio Dotel to get Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Casey McGehee in the ninth, respectively. The result was three outs for the Dodgers to hold on over the Brewers, 5-4.
Another storyline to this game was that it may be Manny Ramirez's final appearance with the Dodgers. If it was, he sure picked a good way to go out. He went 2-for-2 with two doubles, an RBI, and two walks. He drove the ball with authority on both his hits.
It kind of figures that the second the Dodgers get their big slugger back, he may soon be gone. But that's the way it goes when your playoff hopes are slim.
The Dodgers got the scoring started in the third. With one out, Andre Ethier lifted his 20th homer of the season, a solo shot to right. That was his only hit in five at-bats, but at least he made it count. He's enjoying a solid August with a .325 average.
The Brewers burnt themselves by hitting into a double play in the third, but they made up for it in the fourth. Rickie Weeks singled to lead off and scored on Corey Hart's double. Braun followed with his own RBI double to go up 2-1. With Braun now on third, McGehee hit a sac-fly RBI to make it 3-1.
Faced with a deficit, the Dodgers' offense immediately went to work starting with the top of the order. Ryan Theriot doubled to center. Ethier grounded out but got Theriot to third. Manny then took a walk for runners on the corners. A sac-fly RBI by Matt Kemp made it 3-2. Casey Blake cranked a double to put runners in scoring position, as Manny held up after getting gunned at home earlier in the game.
With two outs and James Loney up, it was a spot the Dodgers have failed with flying colors in the second half of the season. Not this time, as Loney's two-run single gave them a 4-3 lead. Once again, Loney drives in runs not with the longball, but with liners. Good enough.
In the sixth, both teams traded single runs. Theriot hit another double with one out. He tagged to third on Ethier's flyout and came home on Manny's RBI double. The Brewers cut it to 5-4 thanks to an RBI single with two down from Fielder.
Up by a run, Hiroki Kuroda gave them one more good inning by striking out the side in the seventh. He finished the night with seven innings, seven hits, four runs, no walks, and six strikeouts. It was good to see him battle back from being hit around in the third. He improved to 9-11.
Broxton came on in the eighth and had a great inning. It wasn't the pressure situation of a save, but was still a big spot in that he had to protect a single run lead late in the game. He got Chris Dickerson grounding out, Weeks flying out, and Hart striking out.
So now things got interesting, as Torre had to decide how to get through the heart of the Brewers order without Kuo available. Belisario got Braun bouncing out to Blake at third.
Congrats, Belisario. Now in came Sherrill. He was down in the count 3-0, but fought back to get Fielder to bounce one up the middle. Theriot ranged to his right, turned in the air and just got Fielder at first. A great play for the second out.
Congrats, Sherrill. Now in came Dotel. McGehee put some good wood on it, but it hung up enough for Kemp to track it down in center to end the game.
It's not often you'll see a line like three pitchers for three outs to win a game, but it worked. Dotel earned the save since he got the final out, but really Broxton, Belisario, and Sherrill deserve tons of credit as well. It was an all-around great job by the bullpen.
I've criticized Torre recently for his (mis)handling of the 'pen, but he was on the money tonight. My first thought was that he'd leave Broxton out there, but I'm glad that didn't happen. Broxton got three good outs, so he needed to end his night on a high. I wasn't sure how the three pitcher theory was going to work out, especially when Sherrill nearly walked Fielder, but it was flawless.
Of course, things would be a lot easier if Broxton hasn't gotten bombed in these situations lately. But I'm just glad he did something right tonight. Any good appearance will hopefully push him back to being his old self again.
The Dodgers will go for the sweep on Thursday afternoon. Carlos Monasterios goes against the Brewers' ace, Yovanni Gallardo.
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