Post-Game 162 Thread: Now, It's Really A Wrap

DODGERS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1

That's right, we can take two out of three against the Diamondbacks at home. Take that!

Matt Kemp hits his 28th HR, his fifth in five games (and another two-run shot); Andre Ethier goes 2-for-2 to end his season batting .291; and Brad Ausmus, who announced his retirement before the game, goes 2-for-4 with a double in his finale. Ted Lilly goes seven full innings with nine strikeouts, and Kenley Jansen and Hong-Chih Kuo shut the door on the Snakes. Here's hoping SoSG regular Dusty Baker, who was at the game, won the Hyundai Sonata.

Post-Game 161 Thread: It's A Wrap!

DODGERS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2

Jamey Carroll, given the managerial responsibilities tonight by a totally checked-out and drunk-on-Bigelow Tea Joe Torre, rode the arm of Chad Billingsley (7.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks), and the bat of Matt Kemp (team-leading 27th, a two-run HR in the fifth, scoring Andre Ethier), not to mention the error of Chris Young (which gave Rod Barajas a triple; he later scored for the deciding run in the sixth). Man, that is one long sentence.

Admiral Ackbar gets the victory, and the rebel forces prevail. Cue the yub yub song!

Post-Game 159 Thread: This Sweeping Thing Would Have Been Nicer About Three Months Ago

DODGERS 7, ROCKIES 6

In another game that wasn't very pretty but ended up okay for the good guys, the Dodgers clung to today's victory, cleanly sweeping the Rockies in our last road series of the year. But a closer look shows all the flaws we had to overcome: Matt Kemp misplayed a Troy Tulowitzki fly ball into a leadoff triple (Kemp atoned for this gaffe the following inning by "slipping Jhoulys Chacin the salami"*, hitting a GS to right for his 25th HR of the season); Carlos Monasterios couldn't make it through the fifth inning; Ramon Troncoso entered and promptly allowed inhereited runners to score (but "earned" the victory); George Sherrill sucked; Ronald Belisario made the ninth-inning nervous time but held the Rockies to one run, and not a tying two-run frame.

All of you mid-day drinkers: keep the irons hot, as we've got dueling games this evening with the Padres (vs. Cubs) and Giants (vs. Snakes). Get your snark on. I'll be back.

Note: (*) Not my words, but rather Mr. Customer's, from the GT. Yikes.

Post-Game 158 Thread: Now Let's Watch The Other Guys

DODGERS 9, COLORADO 7 AND OUT

The Dodgers made sure Colorado skipper Jim Tracy got a full and complete winter vacation, eliminating the Rockies this evening with a late-game surge of four runs in the final three frames. This doesn't help Hiroki Kuroda's win-loss record; Kuroda goes 6.1 IP with 5 ER 1 BB and 6 Ks; but the late innings allowed James Loney to get his 10th HR of the season (a solo shot in the seventh), and then an opportunistic eighth inning plus Casey Blake's second HR of the evening sealed the victory for the good guys.

With the Rockies out, we can now focus on the NL West-leading Giants, who are beating up on a hapless Diamondbacks squad, 3-2 in the seventh; and the Padres, who are trying to rally from a 4-2 deficit against the pathetic Cubs at Petco Park.

Post-Game 157 Thread: Ubal-D'oh!: Dodgers Deny Jimenez 20th Win

DODGERS 3, ROCKIES 1

Thank Josh S for the headline...but thank Ted Lilly for eight innings of one-run ball, earning the Dodgers the win and punching the Rockies' slim playoff hopes in the gut. Why we couldn't have done this to the Giants, i don't know, but I'll take it. Ubaldo Jimenez remains stuck on 19 wins thanks to two RBI from Casey Blake (a bases-loaded single off of Jimenez' body) and another RBI from A.J. Ellis (now batting .278).

The Padres just lost to the Cubs 1-0 with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth. San Diego falls a full game back of the Giants in the NL West (and a half-game behind the Braves for the NL Wild Card), with six to play. Crunch time in the NL West! Just not for the Dodgers.

Post-Game 155 Thread: Giants Obsessed With Colorado's Balls

DIAMONDBACKS 5, DODGERS 2

Yeah sure, we lost 5-2 to the Snakes. But more importantly, the Giants' extra-inning loss to the Rockies gave the Padres the NL West lead again--and left San Francisco fixated on balls:

Before the game, umpires were instructed to keep a close eye on game balls at Coors Field after the Giants expressed concern to the commissioner's office that the Rockies might be using "juiced" balls when batting.

Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney confirmed that umps were told to monitor Saturday night's game balls. Courtney said the Giants had spoken to MLB about the Rockies possibly using balls that weren't properly stored in the humidor at Coors Field.

"We got the bag and brought it over here about a half an hour before the game," crew chief John Hirschbeck said. "Our clubhouse person brought them out."

Well, if we are stuck playing meaningless games down the stretch, at least we can derive meaning from other games' hijinks.

Post-Game 154 Thread: The Future Is Now

DODGERS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1

With apologies to Chad Billingsley and Hong-Chih Kuo, Clayton Kershaw was the only Dodger worth watching in 2010. With nine K's over eight IP tonight, Kershaw has a career-high 212 strikeouts. His ERA+ is actually down to 129 from 142 in 2009, but that won't stop me from predicting he'll be the best thing about the 2011 Dodgers as well.

photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Post-Game 153 Thread: My Head Hurts A Bit

DODGERS 3, PADRES 1

We beat the Padres 3-1.

We help the hated Giants take first place. With their half-game lead, the Giants are 70% likely to make the playoffs (according to ESPN.com's standings); the Padres are roughly 50% likely. And here we go...

Ouch.

Bartender! More beer, please!

Post-Game 152 Thread: Dodgers Play Dead, Padres Re-Take First

PADRES 3, DODGERS 1

Literally minutes after finding out the Giants had been shutout by the Cubs in Chicago, the Dodgers decided to stick it to their NoCal rivals by having Rafael Furcal and James Loney commit consecutive errors on the same play (turning a 1-0 lead over the Padres into a 1-1 tie with the Padres). Without missing a beat, Ted Lilly then got into the act, allowing Miguel Tejada to hit his 300th career home run to score MSB Eckstein and give the Padres a 3-1 lead. Lilly had a decent night--7.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks--but that third-inning lapse was all it took to tip the scales the Padres' way.

Not that others on the team didn't try to contribute, that is. Besides 0-fers from Loney and Furcal, we also had fruitless nights from Jamey Carroll, Jay Gibbons, and Casey Blake. So it was a team effort of sorts to lose tonight, and let San Diego sneak back into first place in the NL West by a half game. Way to go, Dodgers!

Post-Game 151 Thread: Let's Raise A Toast

PADRES 6, DODGERS 0

Let's raise a toast to the 2010 Dodgers. Felled by off-the-field courtroom distractions and a purse as tight as constipated sphincter, the 2010 Dodgers were laid to rest tonight following their 17th shutout of the year (according to the LAT's Steve Dilbeck, MLB's most shutouts). The Dodgers are now 14th of 16 teams in the National League in RBI, attributable at least in part to our hitting coach, who is taking over as manager next year. Good times! Here's to memories of a promising May followed by months of blown opportunities, rampant injuries, and unfulfilled promise of youth.

Drink up!

Post-Game 146 Thread: Clairvoyance

GIANTS 2, DODGERS 1

As I scribed in the Game Thread which posted six hours ago (and which was written the night before!),

Cain needn't worry about the dangerous pitch in the dirt if no Dodger can get on base in the first place. Expect Cain to outduel Bills in a squeaker.

And here we are, Cain getting his 12th win of the season over a valiant seven-inning, one-run, 2 BB, 7 K performance by Chad Billingsley, because the Dodgers siimply refuse to hit. Tonight's four-hit performance, including one from Bills himself as well as a meaningless solo shot by Andre Ethier in the ninth, meant the Dodgers never mounted much of a threat on the basepaths all game long. At least we got 4x the number of hits we got last night, I suppose. (Who is our batting coach again? Don Mattingly, potential heir to the Torre throne? Oh yeah, right.)

But here's another piece of clairvoyance for you, free of charge: if the Giants, who were hitting .214 in September prior to tonight's game (tonight's 7-for-31 team performance won't boost that by much), believe that scoring two runs in two games against a fourth-place sub-.500 team is going to propel them in the playoffs, they're going to be sorely mistaken. Might as well start stocking away food for the long winter ahead, eh Kung Fu Panda?

Comparing Post-Game 145 Threads

[Earth-2] Post-Game 145 Thread: That One Hit Has Got To Hurt

DODGERS 1, GIANTS 0

One measley hit (a single by Matt Kemp to lead off the second inning) was all the Dodgers could muster--and that hit didn't even factor into the Dodgers' run-scoring inning. But a Reed Johnson HBP, a sac bunt by Clayton Kershaw and walks to Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier, and then a Casey-Blake-force-out-turned-error thanks to Giants SS Juan Uribe, allowed Johnson to score the only run of the game in the sixth inning. That was it for Giants starter Barry Zito, who tallied his 13th loss of the season and his seventh straight appearance with a loss.

But the story here was really Clayton Kershaw (CG SO, 0 R (obviously), 4 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks). That was Minotaur's first career complete game and his first career shutout. It won't be his last.

The Giants drop to 1.5 GB the Padres (who beat the Rockies), but remain 1.5 GB NL WC leader Atlanta. Let's try to get a couple more hits tomorrow, eh Dodgers?

UPDATE 10:00p: Ah crap, Orel beat me to the PGT. I'm disabling comments on this one...man, that Orel is frickin' fast.

Post-Game 145 Thread: Dodgers Get One-Hit, Beat Giants Anyway

DODGERS 1, GIANTS 0

Is this the finest moment of the Dodgers' season? Clayton Kershaw was masterful, getting his first career complete game, a four-hit shutout of the Giants — who fall 1.5 game behind the victorious Padres. The Dodgers' unearned run in the sixth inning wins it, with Kershaw throwing 111 pitches and striking out only four. Future ace? Or present ace? Remember, he's still only 22!

photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Post-Game 144 Thread: Congratulations, John Lindsey

ASTROS 7, DODGERS 4

The Dodgers stormed back from an early 4-0 deficit (Carlos Monasterios, 1.1 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks) in the fourth inning with four runs of our own, led by a three-run Jay Gibbons shot as well as a James Loney triple followed by a Russ Mitchell sac fly. But Ramon Troncoso allowed two runs in the fifth to put the game back out of reach.

The feel-good part of the afternoon/morning game (depending on your time zone) was long-time minor leaguer John Lindsey getting his first major league hit:

John Lindsey, who spent 16 years in the Minors before playing in his first Major League game last week, had a fifth-inning pinch-hit single for his first big league hit.

"It was awesome," said Lindsey. "It was a breaking ball, and I saw it. I wanted to be ready when I got something to hit, and it was there and I put a good swing on it. It fell in for me."

Sorry the Dodgers couldn't bring you a win in this game, John, but congratulations. Glad your perseverance paid off!

photo: Shawn E. Davis (not to be confused with here). P.S., Sorry this is up so late.

Post-Game 141 Thread: Six Underground

ASTROS 3, DODGERS 2

Six straight losses. digging us further underground. Ted Lilly had a bad pitch in the sixth inning that turned an uncommon 2-0 Dodgers lead into a more-common 3-2 deficit, and not even all the goodwill around John Lindsey's eagerly anticipated major league debut (PH for Lilly in the seventh; fly out to centerfield) could overcome a one-run deficit. Not the way the Dodgers are playing. Cue woman with the over-toothed grin.

Giants are up 4-1 in the fifth over the Padres, by the way. Shoot, even I am ready for some football at this stage.

Post-Game 140 Thread: Screwing The Giants

PADRES 4, DODGERS 0

Only the Dodgers could make a series sweep by a team who had lost 10 straight seem almost...believable! And instead of the two runs they scored Monday or the one run they scored yesterday, the Dodgers were completely shutout tonight (which means tomorrow, they'll score (-1) runs). Leading the way were 0-fers from Scott Podsednik (+ 2Ks), Ryan Theriot, Casey Blake, Rod Barajas, Reed Johnson, and new Dodger Russ Mitchell who went 0-for-2 with a K and an error. Chad Billingsley couldn't make it out of the sixth inning (4 ER in 5.1 IP, 5 BB, 6 Ks) and took the loss.

More importantly, the Dodgers' loss coupled with the Giants' loss means the Padres have a two-game lead on the second-place Giants, heading into a four-game weekend series between those two teams. SF is also two back of Atlanta in the Wild Card. And I hope you Giants-screwers are now practiced in the art of rooting for the Padres, because we'll have to do so all weekend long.

Post-Game 139 Thread: Sub-.500

PADRES 2, DODGERS 1

Googling "sub 500", to commemorate the Dodgers' first dip below breakeven levels since May 11, came up with some funny results; however, the tagline on this D-movie poster says it all. Alas, at least tonight's offensive ineptitude (no Dodger had more than one hit; Andre Ethier went 0-for-4 with 3 Ks and Rafael Furcal and James Loney tallied two Ks each) kept the Padres one game ahead of the stinkin' Giants, who won again tonight. I don't know if the Dodgers are trying to torpedo the end of Joe Torre's career, but they're certainly doing their damndest to make a solid depth charge.

Post-Game 133 Thread: The Future Of This Organization

PHILLIES 8, DODGERS 4

Carlos Monasterios may indeed be the future of this organization (as we mentioned earlier, so trumpets Mr. LA SF), but he unfortunately wasn't the August 31 2010 of this organization, as Monasterios gave up 5 ER over 2.0 IP across a short 40-pitch stint. He left in the third inning having not recorded an out and leaving two on, and Ramon Troncoso promptly left a meatball for Ryan Howard, hungry for a home run after a 13-game drought, to place over the centerfield wall for the Phils' second three-run HR of the game. Sigh.

Free James Loney got a two-run HR of his own in the sixth to bring the Dodgers within two, but Jonathan Broxton, entering the game with the bases juiced in the seventh and two out, pitches two 94-mph fastballs out of the zone so Carlos Ruiz could establish timing--only to follow with a 93-mph fastball in the zone that Ruiz bangs to left for a two-RBI single. 8-4, game set match.

Kenley Jansen pinch hit in the fifth for Troncoso and got a hit, so there's that. That makes him about 800 points ahead of Mark Sweeney.

Post-Game 132 Thread: Hiroki Kuroda, Beacon Of Light

DODGERS 3, PHILLIES ZEROOOOO

Hiroki Kuroda went out there on the mound tonight and took all of the voluminous MSM coverage of Manny Ramirez' departure and the Dodgers' 2010 season hara-kiri, and kicked all of it squarely in the nuts. Seven and a third innings of magnificent no-hit ball, and 7.2 IP of one-hit, 7 K ball, bested Philly ace Roy Halladay and sent the Phillies back to their Best Western hotel scoreless and wanting.

And how about that Rod Barajas? In his first game in his hometown park in a Dodgers uniform, he calls a great game for Kuroda (but should have called for the beanball against Shane Victorino, who broke up the no-no), hits a run-scoring double play ball for the second run of the game, and then hits a home run off of Halladay to put the Dodgers up 3-0. We never looked back.

Way to go, Hiroki. And for all you MSM who are going to keep saying Manny was/is a cancer and the Dodgers will be unfertile into 2030: let me join our gun, Hiroki Kuroda by saying: GO TO HELL.

photo: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images