Russell Martin and Jonathan Broxton have agreed to terms on new contracts for the 2009 season. Martin set the record for a signing by a catcher as he agreed on a $3.9 million deal. Broxton was signed for $1.825 million.

The Dodgers will have to head to salary arbitration with one player as they were unable to come to terms on a deal with Andre Ethier. The hearing for Ethier and the Dodgers will happen next month.

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.

Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies are ready to kick the NLCS off on Thursday evening. Games one and two will be played in Philadelphia and then the next three games in Los Angeles. Games six and seven would then be played back in Philly if needed.

The Dodgers are coming off a three game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. They have all the momentum in the world and they are ready for the Phillies. The Dodgers will be sending Derrek Lowe to the mound in game one against the Phillies Cole Hamels.

The Dodgers right handed pitching staff will have to keep Chase Utley and Ryan Howard off the base paths if they want to win the series.

The offense will try to stay hot with Rafael Furcal leading things off and setting things up for Russell Martin and Manny Ramirez. Manny is just being Manny and that means hitting home runs and knocking in runs in the playoffs while racking up the victories.

Hopefully the Dodgers will get off to a fast start and get a win in Philly and then be setup to finish off the series in L.A. Let’s enjoy the game tomorrow and hope that the Dodgers jump all over Hamels! Go Dodgers!

Dodgers Blog

It a very suprising series so far, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken the first two games in the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers now only need one more win to advance to the NLCS and they have two chances to do it at home. The third game will be Saturday night and I expect to see the Dodgers sweep away the Cubbies.

The Dodgers took advantage of four cubs errors in the game on Thursday night as they came away with a 10-3 victory. Russell Martin made the Cubs pay in the second inning after they commited two errors. Martin cleared the bases with a three-run double which gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead and they never looked back.

Manny Ramirez hit his second home run of the series as well in the game as the Dodgers clobbered the Cubs in pretty much every was shape and form.

Chad Billingsley was lights out as he pitched 6 1/3 innings while limiting the Cubs to only one run. Billingsley struck out seven while only walking one. Takashi Saito was charged with three hits and two runs in the ninth inning when the Cubs attempted to come back from the large deficit but they were unable to do so. Jonathan Broxton came into the game and finished off the Cubs rally by getting all three outs in the inning.

Dodgers Blog

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

Manny Ramirez was awesome for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night against the San Diego Padres. Ramirez hit two two-run home runs that blew the game open in the late innings as the Dodgers went on to beat the Padres 7-2 as the two teams finished up their three game series. The Dodgers took two out of the three games and extended their divisional lead to 3.5 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. I’d say it has been a very good couple of weeks for the Dodgers!

Ramirez finished the game with a team high four rbi. Russell Martin, James Loney, and starting pitcher Derek Lowe all contributed with one rbi each as well. It was a nice balanced offense for the Dodgers on Wednesday night as there were other players that helped out manny.

Lowe received the win after tossing 5 1/3 innings. Lowe would have pitched longer in the game except he was taken out due to an undisclosed injury to his right leg. Hopefully it isn’t too bad as it would be a big blow to lose Lowe for any amount of time.

Let’s hope the Dodgers can extend their lead this weekend as they play the Colorado Rockies in a three game weekend series.

Dodgers Blog

The Los Angeles Doders got out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning against the Colorado Rockies but then did not score again and lost the game 4-3. The game was tied 3-3 heading into the ninth inning when the Dodgers bullpen hit a batter, allowed him to steal second, and then score on a rbi single. It was a bad loss for the Dodgers as the Diamondbacks beat the Padres as well.

Jonathan Broxton was the losing pitcher as he gave up the winning run in the ninth inning. Broxton is now 3-5 on the season. Dodgers starting pitcher Chad Billingsley gave up five hits and two runs over six innings of action to get a no decision. Chan Ho Park pitched two innings of relief and gave up two hits and one run.

In the first inning when the Dodgers scored all three of their runs, Matt Kemp had a rbi single and then Nomar Garciaparra and Russell Martin both scored on an error by Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

The Dodgers need to beat the Rockies on Thursday to avoid the three game sweep. They also need to win the game as they are now two games back of the league leading Diamondbacks.

Dodgers Baseball

First off, sorry for the lack of updates as things have been busy around here.  The blog will hopefully have someone writing game recaps here in the near future on almost a daily basis.  In the mean time, please bear with us!

On Wednesday night, the Dodgers finished off a three game series with the Giants and they shut them out 4-0.  After losing the first game of the series, the Dodgers game back to win the final two and win the overall series.  That is what they have to do if they want to stay in this playoff race.

Chad Billingsley was awesome against the Giants as he tossed a complete game five hitter and shut them Giants down.  He did not walk a batter and struckout eight others.  The Giants pretty much looked lost at the plate against him.  Hopefully the other Dodgers pitchers can follow what Chad did.

Russell Martin had two – two run singles while Jeff Kent added a rbi double and James Loney a rbi sac fly.  That is how the Dodgers scored all four of their runs in the first three innings of the game.  One run in the first inning, and then three more in the third inning.  The way Billingsley was dealing, he didn’t need much scoring from the offense.

So hopefully our new Dodgers blogger will start soon, and if not I won’t be able to update the site until around August 12th as I have to head to a couple of computer conferences in Chicago.  If there is another Dodgers fan out there that would like to write game recaps (4-5 a week) can you please email me by clicking the contact us link at the top of the site.  I will have access to my email and will reply with more details.

Thanks

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.

Dodgers Blog

Relief pitcher Brian Falkenborg served up a 11th inning home run to the Marlins Hanley Ramirez and the Dodgers lost to the Marlins 5-4 on Thursday night.  It was definately not the way the Dodgers wanted to start off the four game series with the visiting Marlins.

Chan Ho Park only lasted four innings as he gave up nine hits and four runs.  Three of those four runs were earned.  after Park left the game, the bullpen guys did a great job until Falkenborg gave up the homer in the 11th.  Hong-Chih Kuo pitched three innings, Jonathan Broxton one inning, and Takashi Saito two innings.  All three relievers combined to only give up three hits.

Russell Martin led the team at the plate with two rbi including a solo home run.  Martin now has 10 home runs on the season and 48 rbi.  Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier both added rbi singles as well.

The Dodgers will now look to even the series up and get a win on Friday against the fish.  Do you think it will happen?  Dodgers Blog