It was a crazy ride through the 2008 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they had their ups and downs but made into the playoffs even advanced to the NLCS. On Wednesday night, the season came to an abrumpt end however as Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies won game five by the score of 5-1.

The Dodgers offense struggled the entire night against Hamels. Three errors by Rafael Furcal sure didn’t help either. The only offense on the night was as solo home run by Manny Ramirez when he went yard in the sixth inning. The game could have been different except everytime Manny came up to bat, no one was on base. He has to have runners our there for the home runs and singles to really matter.

Blake DeWitt had a terrible game and series at the plate. He twice grounded into double plays that killed rallies.

Starting pitcher Chad Billingsley struggled from the get go. He only lasted 2 2/3 innings as he was charged with four hits and three runs. He walked three batters and also gave up solo home run. Jimmy Rollins took him deep in the first inning and things only got worse from there.

Greg Maddux also gave up two runs in relief. However, those three errors we mentioned before by Furcal really hurt Maddux so it wasn’t all his fault.

So now we head into the off season wondering what management will do with Ramirez and Furcal. Will Ramirez except a 2-3 year deal? I really doubt it but time will tell. What do you think?

The Los Angeles Dodgers picked up a much needed win on Sunday evening as they took game three in the NLCS by the score of 7-2. The Dodgers jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after the first inning on three-run triple by Blake DeWitt and rbi singles from Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake.

They weren’t done after the first inning however. Rafael Furcal jumped all over a Jamie Moyer pitch for a solo home run in the second inning which put the Dodgers up 7-1. Hiroki Kuroda gave up a rbi single to the Phillies in the top half of the inning before the Furcal home run.

Nomar Garciaparra added the seventh and final run for the home team in the fifth inning when he singled in Ramirez. Nice to see Nomar getting in on the action during the playoffs.

The main man of the night was Kuroda in my opinion. He pitched six strong innings and kept the Phillies off balance. He only allowed two runs which both came on singles and he struck out three while only giving up five hits. Cory Wade pitched the seventh and eighth innings before he turned things over to Jonathan Broxton for the ninth.

Derek Lowe will now take the mound on Monday night as the Dodgers look to tie the series up at two games each. It won’t be easy however as the Phillies will be sending Joe Blanton to the mound.

Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves down 2-0 in the best of seven series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies used big innings in the second and third innings where they scored for runs in each inning to blow open the game and go onto win by the score of 8-5.

Chad Billingsley struck out four of the first six batters he faced, but quickly ran into trouble after fanning Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth in the second. Greg Dobbs hit a soft single up the middle and scored when Carlos Ruiz hit a double to left-center. Myers lined the next pitch to right-center to drive in Ruiz and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead. Jimmy Rollins bounced a single up the middle and Myers chugged toward third. Matt Kemp misplayed the ball in center field or he could’ve thrown Myers out to end the inning. Rollins hustled into second on the play. Shane Victorino followed with a two-run single to left-center to make it 4-1.

Billingsley also was charged with the four runs in the third inning when he gave up a two-run rbi single to Myers and and left runners on base for Chan Ho Park who entered the game in relief. Park then gave up a two-run triple to Victorino for the final two Phillies runs.

Manny Ramirez led the offense once again as he went 1-4. His one hit however was a three-run home run that got the team back in the game in the fourth inning. After the home run, the score was 8-5 but the Dodgers were unable to score over the final six innings to draw closer. James Loney and Blake DeWitt each had a rbi as well for the Dodgers.

It is time to go back to the drawing board if you ask me. The team is down 0-2 as they head back to Los Angeles for the next two and hopefully three games of the series. Hiroki Kuroda will take the mound for the Dodgers against Jamey Moyer and the Phillies. Hopefully the offday on Saturday will do the team good and they will bounce back with a victory on Sunday.

Looking for Dodgers playoff Tickets? Buy from StubHub where all transactions are 100% guranteed!

The Los Angeles Dodgers had to play extra innings on Thursday afternoon but it was well worth it as they came away with a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Great win for the Dodgers who needed to pick up a win as the Diamondbacks were getting closer in the standings.

James Loney singled in Russell Martin for the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Earlier in the game Blake DeWitt had a two-run single and Matt Kemp scored on a infield single by Andre Ethier. I would have liked to see more offense out of the Dodgers but at this point in the season you will take a win any way you can get one.

Scott Proctor ended up picking up the win while Jonathan Broxton picked up his 14th save of the season. Clayton Kershaw pitched good during his five innings of action as he only gave up two hits and one run. However he was pulled and then Takashi Saito and Wade each gave up a run in relief.

The Dodgers will now head back to the West Coast as they will begin a series against the Giants on Friday. This is a must win series for the Dodgers so they can stay ahead of the Diamondbacks in the standings.

Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers had no problems with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night. The Dodgers whooped up on the Pirates by the score of 8-2. Scoring in five out of nine innings, they really put a lot of pressure on the young pirates team and they had no shot at coming back.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched seven innings to pick up the win and improve his record to 9-10. Takashi Saito and Brad Penny both tossed an inning of relief with Penny giving up two runs in the ninth inning on a Adam LaRoche home run.

James Loney went 2-4 and finished the game with three rbi to lead the team at the plate. Manny Ramirez had another good game as he went 3-4 and had two rbi. Blake DeWitt and Juan Pierre both finished up the scoring with one rbi each. Pierre actually hit his first home run of the season to account for his rbi.

The Dodgers are looking very strong and I don’t think they will have any problems winning the West division especially the way the dbacks have been playing.

Dodgers Blog

Eric Stults was on fire for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.  Stults limited the Chicago White Sox to only four hits as the Dodgers shut out the White Sox in a 5-0 victory.  Stults pitched all nine innings for the Dodgers and improved his record to 2-0 with a 0.60 era.

The Dodgers offense got two runs in the first inning with rbi singles from Andre Ethier and Russell Martin.  In the fourth inning three more runs crossed the plate for the Dodgers Blake DeWitt double that scored two runs and then a rbi sac fly by Stults.  Stults did a little bit of everything for the Dodgers as you can see.

The Dodgers will now send Clayton Kershaw to the mound on Thursday as the White Sox and Dodgers play the rubber match of their three game series.  Who will come out on top? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Dodgers Home Plate

Brad Penny who has been unable to return to the cy young status he was at least year attempted to change his fortune around. Against the team who you can only say is in a bigger slump right now the New York Mets. Penny fought as hard as he could but only managed 4 innings 8 hits and 6 runs he will go to sleep tonight with nightmares of David Wright. Who hit two back to back jacks one to left and one to right which swelled Penny’s era to 5.66. Another weird thing of matter was that Brad Penny could not get anyone out with 2 outs. Which lead the Dodgers to a lose with the score of 4 to 8

Some good news came out of this game though the Dodger bats somewhat woke up. While only getting 7 hits all but three dodger(one being the pitcher) had a hit. Including Jeff Kent hit a home run that I still think has not landed yet. After Kent hit one Blake Dewitt blasted his 5^th home run of the year. Dodgers only left 10 men on base today which is a sign that things could be getting better.

The bullpen looked again solid only giving up two runs threw four pitchers. Also the dodger finally got a extra base hit in Andre Either’s double that would be the only extra base hit in the game. However the Mets bullpen came together after Vargas let go of 4 runs. The Mets bullpen shut down the dodgers cold only giving up one hit after Vargas outing. The Dodgers today made the Mets look like…?…last years Mets before the whole destruction from the inside out at the end of the season.

Amongst the all the losing and errors and home runs special attention was paid to Joe Torre. This being his first time back in the town where he produced so many world series championships. Have with the swagger of being back in New York he fell silent watching his new team be defeated again. Clayton Kershaw will take the mound tomorrow night in hopes of winning his first ever game. Should the bullpen hold the bats swing and the curve ball stays sick Kershaw could finally get his win and get the dodgers out of this 4 game winning streak…

Blake DeWitt delivered a rbi single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night by the score of 6-5.  The Dodgers had got two walks and a hit in the inning before DeWitt came to the plate and singled to score Russell Martin.

DeWitt led the Dodgers at the plate with two rbi in the game.  James Loney and Matt Kemp both had one rbi in the game as well.

Starting pitcher Brad Penny lasted six innings as he gave up nine hits and five runs in the game.  Penny gave up a two run home run to Adam Dunn in the game as well.  Penny wasn’t his usual self as he didn’t have great command and couldn’t locate hit pitches very well.

Joe Beimel, Jonathan Broxton, and Takashi Saito threw the final three innings of the game for the Dodgers.  Saito ended up picking up the win which improves his record to 2-1.

Dodgers Blog

Wow what a win for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they came back to score three runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers by the score of 6-4.

Juan Pierre had a two run double in the top of the ninth inning and then later scored on a Andruw Jones ground out to shortstop to spark the ninth inning rally.  Pierre led the Dodgers with three rbi in the game.  Blake Dewitt had a solo home run for one rbi and Jones had one rbi as well for the Dodgers.

Starting pitcher Derek Lowe didn’t have his best stuff on the night.  Lowe allowed six hits and four runs in six innings of action.  He would have been in line for the loss had the Dodgers not came back.  Scott Proctor, Joe Beimel, Jonathan Broxton, and Takashi Saito pitched the final three innings of the game without allowing a run.  Broxton got the win and Saito picked up the save.

Want to join the Dodgers Homeplate team?  We are currently looking for a Dodgers fan that would like to help with game recaps after the games are over.  If you are interested or have quesions please use the contact us link at the top of the page and email us!  Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to play good baseball as they beat the New York Mets 5-4 on Tuesday night.  The win was the Dodgers tenth win in their last eleven games and they improved their season record to 19-14.

Blake DeWitt hit a inside the park home run in the fifth inning to score the tieing and go ahead run for the Dodgers.  DeWitt who hit is first home run on Monday now has two home runs in under 24 hours!    DeWitt finished the game with four total RBI.

Juan Pierre also scored DeWitt in the second inning to pick up a RBI.

Hiroki Kuroda didn’t have his best stuff as he only lasted 3 1/3 innings after giving up eight hits and four runs.  Only two of the runs were earned however, but Kuroda should have pitched a lot better then he did.

Hong-Chih Kuo ended up pitching 3 2/3 innings of relief after Kurdoa exited the game and he picked up the win which was his second of the season.  Takashi Saito notched his fifth save of the season in the game as well.

Dodgers Blog