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?

Two bad pitches and two home runs for the Philadelphia Phillies as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Thursday night as the two teams opened up the NLCS in Philly. Dodgers starting pitcher Derrek Lowe gave up home runs to Chase Utley and Pat Burrell in the sixth inning to put the Phillies up 1-0 in the best of seven series.

Lowe didn’t pitch that bad at all but the two home runs really hurt the teams chances. Chan Ho Park, Greg Maddux, and Hong-Chih Kuo all pitched in relief of Lowe to hold the Phillies to three runs but the offense was unable to score another run to tie the game up.

Speaking of the offense, they struggled for the most part against lefty Cole Hamels. Hamels struck out eight Dodgers and limited them to six hits through seven innings. Manny Ramirez stayed hot as he had a rbi double in the first inning to get the team on the board. The Dodgers next run would come in the fifth inning when Casey Blake scored Matt Kemp on a rbi sac fly. That would be all the scoring for the Dodgers however.

The team will look to bounce back in an afternoon game on Friday. Chad Billingsley will face off against the Phillies and their starting pitcher Brett Myers. If the team can pick up a win on Friday, I like their chances as the two teams head back to L.A. for the next three games.

Dodgers Blog

Blah, what a bad game for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. They were shut out by the San Diego Padres 4-0. The only good thing to come out of the game was that the Arizona Diamondbacks also lost so the Dodgers are still up 1.5 games in the division.

Greg Maddux was the losing pitcher for the Dodgers as he gave up all four runs in six innings of action. Maddux allowed seven hits, walked two, and struck out four while dropping his season record to 7-12. Scott Elbert, Scott Proctor, and Joe Beimel all did a great job out of the bullpen but the offense was never able to get anything going to come back in the game.

Just a terrible showing for the offense as they were unable to push across any runs against Cha Seung Baek and two Padres relief pitchers. They only had four hits in the entire game combined so they offense just needs to forget about this game and come back out on Tuesday night and swing the bats better.

Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers hit three home runs on Wednesday night but they still lost to the Washington Nationals. The Nationals were able to hold off the Dodgers for the 5-4 victory. Tough loss for the Dodgers because the Diamondacks also lost and they could have picked up a full game in the standings.

Greg Maddux got the start for the Dodger but he only lasted 5 1/3 innings and allowed eight hits and four runs. Maddux needed to throw the ball a little better then he did for the Dodgers to get the victory. Chan Ho Park sucked it up once again as he gave up another run in relief.

It was really too bad that the Dodgers hit three home runs but only scored three runs on them as they were all solo shots. James Loney, Casey Blake, and Andre Ethier all went deep in the game. Blake also added on a rbi single in the eighth inning.

The Dodgers will need to win on Thursday to avoid the embarassing sweep by the Nationals.

Dodgers Baseball Blog