Hiroki Kuroda had a no-hitter into the 8th inning but it was broken up by Dodger killer San Victorino. Then, instead of allowing Kuroda to finish the game, as at that point he only had 102 pitches, Joe Torre took Kuroda out for Hong-Chih Kuo against rookied left handed hitting Domonic Brown, who has 17 strikeouts in only 49 at-bats and a .224 batting average, no real threat, but of course Torre must go by the book and bring in a lefty against a lefty, even though that lefty is your closer.Kuo retired 4 straight without getting anyone on base and the game was over, Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Philadelphia Phillies 0.

Rod Bajaras continued his hitting streak since he’s returned home to his native Southern California. Barjas grew up a Dodger fan, so playing for the Dodgers has been a line long dream of his and at the age of 34, that dream has finally come true.

“To wear those all-white uniforms with Dodgers across the chest, that is going to be great,” Barajas said. “The road uniforms are great, but the home one is the one I remember growing up. That is the uniform I always wanted to put on.”

Barjas is hitting .438, with 3 home-runs, including one today against the Phillies, with 2 2B’s and 6 RBI’s since joining the Dodgers. It’s been sweet for Barjas, who was relegated to the bench while playing for the Mets, when the Dodgers obtained him, he hadn’t played for nearly a month, despite having 12 home-runs for them this season.

Every win against the Phillies will bring the Dodgers 1 game closer to the Wild Card lead but of course it also puts the teams in front of the Dodgers closer as well, so I guess the season isn’t totally lost, especially since the Phillies are 31-32 away from Philadelphia so the Dodgers have a chance but who knows how well we’ll do with no Manny, even though he didn’t want to play in the field anymore and wouldn’t have been much help anyway.

We now await Furcal’s return, who is now off the 15 day DL but hasn’t been officially added to the active roster and isn’t ready to play. With Podsednick and Theriot hitting well in the 1 and 2 holes and Ethier finding his swing again batting 3rd, I don’t know what Torre will do with Furcal once he does return. Before he was hurt, he put him 3rd behind Podsednik and Theriot but didn’t do well, his place is batting lead off even if he has the bat to hit 3rd. I guess we’ll see what Torre will do, although I’m not sure if I have the faith that he’ll do the right thing.

]]> http://www.dodgerscentral.com/2010/08/31/kuroda-pitches-a-gem-dodgers-5-5-back.html/feed/ 0 http://www.dodgerscentral.com/2008/09/08/dodgers-sweep-dbacks-take-over-first-place.html/ http://www.dodgerscentral.com/2008/09/08/dodgers-sweep-dbacks-take-over-first-place.html/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:49:05 +0000 dodgerscentral http://dodgerscentral.com/?p=148 The Los Angeles Dodgers finished a strong six game home stand, strong enough to produce a first place record.  The Dodgers won all six games during the home stand, sweeping the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.  Los Angeles has now won eight straight.

Sunday they defeated the D’Backs 5-3, Nomar Garciaparra provided the go ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh, and James Looney knocked in three runs as well.

The Dodgers now travel to San Deiego for another set against the Padres.  The Dodgers embark upon a 10 game road trip, where they are just 28-40 on the road.

San Diego heads into the series in last place in the NL West, and almost mathematically eliminated.  They will try to play the role of spoilers to the LA Dodgers during the series.

Game 1

Greg Maddux (7-11, 4.18 ERA) will face Cha Seung Baek (4-10, 5.36 ERA) in game one.  Maddux began the season with San Diego before being traded to LA via waivers.

Game 2

Hiroki Kuroda (8-10) will face of against Wade LeBlanc (0-1) in game two.  LeBlanc will be making his second career start, his first was last week against the Dodgers when he lasted just four innings, giving up five earned runs, eight hits and three walks.

Game 3

Derrek Lowe (12-11) goes against Shawn Estes (2-1) on Wednesday.  LA is off Thursday before heading to Colorado for a three game series against the Rockies.