It was a tough loss for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night as they dropped game four of the NLCS by the score of 7-5. Heading into the eighth inning, the Dodgers had a 5-3 lead and things looked like they would be evening up the series with the Philadelphia Phillies at two games each. However, the Phillies had other ideas as they hit two two-run home runs in the inning to take the lead and go on and win the game by the score of 7-5.

Cory Wade and Jonathan Broxton each gave up a home run in the eighth inning as they pretty much blew the game for the team. Wade ended up getting the loss in the game.

Starting pitcher Derrek Lowe pitched ok but wasn’t as good as he usually is. Lowe tossed five innings and gave up six hits and two runs while striking out four batters. He allowed two first inning runs and then settled down after that.

Clayton Kershaw and Hong-Chih Kuo were both charged with giving up a run as well. Kershaw’s run actally came on a Chan Ho Park wild pitch in the sixth inning.

Four different Dodgers had one rbi each for the offense. Manny Ramirez, Casey Blake, Russell Martin, and James Loney each provided an rbi. The offense did enough in the game to pull out the win, the bullpen just didn’t do their job to secure the victory.

The two teams will be off on Tuesday and then pick things back up on Wednesday for game five of the series. This is a must win for the Dodgers as they have to win to send the series back to Philly. It will be tough as they will be going against Cole Hamels while they will counter with Chad Billingsley.

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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.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched atleast a share of the West division on Wednesday night as they beat the San Diego Padres 12-4. Now all the Dodgers have to do is win one more game or have the Arizona Diamondbacks lose one game and the Dodgers will be the 2008 National League West Champions!

Manny Ramirez hit a two-run home run while Nomar Garciaparra added a solo home run of his own against the Padres. Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Angel Berroa joined Ramirez and Garciaparra with two rbi’s each in the game. Not to be left out, Andre Ethier and Chin-lung Hu both had one rbi in the game as well.

The Dodgers offense kept pressure on the Padres pitchers all night long as they scored runs off of five different Padres hurlers. Great job by the Dodgers bats!

Clayton Kershaw was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and he tossed 5 2/3 innings but was pulled after giving up six hits and three runs. Kershaw struck out seven and walked two while picking up the win to improve to 5-5 on the year. Chan Ho Park gave up one run in relief but then Joe Beimel, Cory Wade, and Scott Proctor finished off the Padres.

The Dodgers will be looking for the division crown on Thusday night when they take on the Padres once again. Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies combined to scored 26 runs on Monday night as the two teams played in a slugfest at Coors Field.  The Dodgers had jumped out to a 16-4 lead after five innings but the Rockies didn’t back down and scored the next six runs of the game as they kept chipping their way back.  Luckily for the Dodgers, there are only nine innings in a game and the Rockies ran out of time.

What I found interesting was that the Dodgers scored 16 runs at Coors Field but they did not hit one home run!  It was a lot of run scoring singles and doubles that scored most of the Dodgers runs.  James Loney went 3-6 and had five rbi in the game to lead the team at the plate.  Andre Ethier, Jeff Kent, and Angel Berroa all had two rbi each to chip in.  Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Andy LaRoche, and Eric Stults all contributed with one rbi each.  The Dodgers should have probably scored even more runs but they left 22 runners on base.

The pitching staff was kind of dissappointing as all five pitchers were charged with atleast one run.  Starting pitcher Stults lasted just 3 2/3 innings as he was rocked for six hits and three runs.  Stults gave up a solo home run to Matt Holliday as well.  Brian Falkenborg and Joe Beimel both were charged with one run each.  Cory Wade pitched two innings and gave up three runs.  Hong-Chih Kuo gave up two more runs in the bottom of the ninth inning before he was finally able to get the last out.  Falkenborg ended up getting the victory and is now 2-2 on the year.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers took a beating from the bats of the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.  The Braves came out swinging and defeated the Dodgers 9-3 to even the three game series at one game each.

Dodgers starting pitcher Chad Billingsley gave up six runs on six hits in only 5 1/3 innings of action.  Five of the six runs were earned and charged to Billingsley as he took the loss and dropped to 8-8 on the season.  Billingsley struck out eight batters but also had control issues as he walked four others.

Ramon Troncoso pitched 1 2/3 innings without giving up a run but then Joe Beimel gave up three hits and a run and Cory Wade allowed two more runs to score in the ninth inning.  It just wasn’t a good night to be a Dodgers pitcher.

James Loney had a rbi double in the in the sixth inning that score Andre Ethier for the Dodgers first run of the game.  The Dodgers did not score again until the ninth inning when Delwyn Young scored on a rbi groundout by Nomar Garciaparra.  Loney also scored on that play when Kelly Johnson committed a throwing error.

The Dodgers just didn’t play good and most of the blame has to go on the pitching staff.  Will they get it together and come back and get a victory on Wednesday?

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Hiroki Kuroda pitched seven innings of scoreless baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and they defeated the Houston Astros by the score of 4-1.  Kuroda did a good job and pitched a quality game ti improve his record to 4-6 while the Dodgers record improved to 40-44.

Cory Wade pitched two innings after Kuroda left the game and he allowed one run to cross the plate.  Carlos Lee hit a solo home run in the ninth inning for the only run of the game for the Dodgers.

Jeff Kent had two rbi to lead the Dodgers at the plate while Andre Ethier had one rbi on a solo home run and Luis Maza had a rbi sacrafice to first base.  That was enough scoring the way Kuroda pitched in the game.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers out hit the Houston Astros on Monday night 11-6 but it was the Astros that came out on top on the scoreboard with the 4-1 victory.  Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Stults gave up four runs while Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt only gave up one run.

Stults ended up taking the loss after pitching 5 1/3 innings and giving up five hits and the four runs.  Lance Berkman hit a solo home run off of Stults in the first inning but after that it was a rbi single and then a two run single for the Astros off of Stults.

The Dodgers bullpen did a good job as they tossed 2 2/3 innigs of scoreless baseball.  Ramon Troncoso, Joe Beimel, and Cory Wade all pitched out of the bullpen and did a great job.

James Loney had the only rbi for the dodgers as he hit a sacrafice fly in the first inning to score Andre Ethier.  The dodgers as a team left 21 runners on base and that is why the only scored one run in the game.

Clayton Kershaw will take the mound for the Dodgers on Tuesday night as they try to get back into the series with the Astros.  Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to come up with a big hit as they lost to the Chicago White Sox by the score of 2-0 on Thursday afternoon.  The Dodgers only had five hits in the game and just never got a rally going. It wasn’t like they were out played in this game, the White Sox just got two timely hits that the Dodgers were unable to get.

Clayton Kershaw gave up both runs as he pitched the first four innings of the game.  Kershaw gave up six hits and took the loss which dropped his record to 0-2 on the season.  Brian Falkenborg, Cory Wade, and Ramon Troncoso all pitched after Kershaw was taken out of the game.  All three relief pitchers did a great job to keep the White Sox at two runs.

It just wasn’t the Dodgers day at the plate as they struggled to get anything going against John Danks and the relief pitchers of the White Sox.

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The Chicago White Sox roughed up Derek Lowe for five runs in a little over seven innings on Tuesday night as they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1.  Lowe struck out eight batters but gave up nine hits and five runs.  One of those hits was a two run home run by Jermaine Dye.  Lowe is now 5-7 on the season and the Dodgers are 35-41 as a team.

Cory Wade gave up two more runs in the game before Ramon Troncoso pitched a scoreless ninth inning to stop the bleeding.

Delwyn Young hit his first home run in the fifth inning off of Mark Buehrle for the only Dodgers run and rbi in the game.  Buehrle pretty much had every Dodgers batter not knowing what was coming.  The Dodgers made contact, but were never able to get a good rally going to score some runs.

Wednesday night will be a new game and the Dodgers will send Eric Stults to the mound as he hopes to improve to 2-0 and get a victory for the Dodgers.  Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers have now won two straight games as they have defeated the Cincinnati Reds for the second straight night.  On Wednesday night, the Dodgers defeated the Reds 6-1 as the Dodgers scored in five different innings.

James Loney had a solo home run and rbi double to finish the game with two rbi.  Lead off hitter Juan Pierre also finished the game with two as he plated two runs with a two run triple in the seventh inning.  Andre Ethier had the other rbi for the Dodgers which was a rbi single in the second inning.

Derrek Lowe pitched the first 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win.  He allowed three hits and one run.  The one run was a solo home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the second inning.  Lower is now 5-6 on the season after picking up the win.  Hong-Chih Kuo pitched the next 2 2/3 innings while allowing four hits but zero runs.  Cory Wade pitched the ninth inning to finish off the Reds.

The Dodgers will go for the three game sweep on Thursday afternoon.  Who thinks they will get the job done?

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