Walk-off September continues

The Dodgers certainly aren't making things easy on themselves in the stretch run.  They'd much rather show their flare for the dramatic.

A two-out, walk-off single by A.J. Ellis gave the Dodgers their second consecutive victory in the last at-bat by beating the Padres, 4-3.  Of course, the Giants won on a walk-off as well, so the NL West is still separated by 4 1/2 games.

Joe Blanton got the call on the mound, and three hitters into the game, it looked like it could be a long Labor Day in Dodger Stadium.  With one out, Will Venable legged out an infield single, then stole second.  Chase Headley has quietly put together a great season, and his two-run homer to right gave the Pads a 2-0 lead.

Blanton did settle down after that, though he still played with a bit of fire here and there.  The bases were loaded in the fourth on singles by Chris Denorfia and Cameron "Tiki" Maybin, and an intentional walk to John Baker an out later.  But, Blanton got pitcher Andrew Warner and Everth Cabrera striking out to end the threat.

After Blanton turned a slick double play to end the Padres' fifth, the Dodgers finally cracked the scoreboard.  Luis Cruuuuuuuz (as the crowd loves to say) singled leading off.  Ellis flew out, but Blanton sacrificed Cruz to second.  With two outs, Mark Ellis came through with an RBI single to make it 2-1.

We've all seen the Dodgers swing for the fences for the better part of a week now with mixed success, but Hanley Ramirez made it two homers in his last three games with a solo shot in the sixth.  His 24th of the season tied the game at 2-2.

Blanton stayed on to start the seventh and got a couple outs, but also gave up a single to Werner.  Don Mattingly went with Randy Choate to pitch to Venable, but Bud Black countered with Logan Forsythe.  A liner right off of Choate's thumb put two on and meant a quick end to the night for him.  Headley's run-scoring single off of Ronald Belisario put his team back up 3-2.

Much like Sunday, the Dodgers had work to do in the ninth.  Luke Gregerson entered the inning before to get Matt Kemp grounding out, so he stayed on for the save opportunity.  He immediately struck out Ramirez for the first out.  Andre Ethier then made it a new game with a solo shot to right, and the Dodgers were back alive at 3-3. 

Neither team made any noise in the 10th, and Brandon League pitched another scoreless inning in the 11th.  Ethier started the two-out rally with a single off of Cory Burns.  Cruz kept it going with a single, and A.J.'s walk-off followed that.

For awhile it looked like the only exciting thing about this game was watching the Fierce Five throw out the first pitch.  Well, three of them anyway in Kyla Ross, Gabby Douglas, and McKayla Maroney.  Hey, I'm a big gymnastics fan, so it was cool for me too see.

Anyway, the offense woke up in time, and Blanton avenged his early troubles.  He ended up pitching 6 2/3 innings for seven hits, three runs, two walks, and six strikeouts.  It's too bad he got charged for that run in the seventh, as the bullpen of Choate and Belisario shouldn't have let that happen.  But at least he wasn't hit with a loss either.

Lots of credit needs to go to Jamey Wright and League for this win.  They each pitched a couple scoreless innings, striking out four.  For Wright, he's been perfect in his last five innings.  And for League, he hasn't given up a run in his last eight appearances dating back to August 17.  Apparently that mechanical flaw discovered by Rick Honeycutt really did help his improvement.  With Kenley Jansen sidelined, his reemergence comes at a perfect time.

Let's also recognize Ethier's contributions here.  He's hit safely in 10 of his last 12 for an average of .457.  Those numbers don't lie.  He's homered in two of his last three, and with the Dodgers obviously struggling to score anybody, that's a welcomed stat.  You know Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez can't keep struggling forever, so as soon as they start to hit like normal, Ethier can have so many more RBI opportunities.

As the Dodgers continue the "wait and see" approach with Chad Billingsley and Jansen, all they can really do is continue to get better from within and hope those guys can lace 'em up again at some point this season.  I'm not holding my breath on either one of them, but I hope to be wrong.  With all the trades they've made, it's still really hard to overcome losing a starting pitcher and closer.

The Dodgers will look to make it four straight with another matchup against the Padres on Tuesday.  Clayton Kershaw will take on Ex-Dodger Eric Stults.