Kiss it goodbye!

Los Angeles, CA

With yet another series win, the Los Angeles Dodgers have pushed themselves closer to the post-season. They have accumulated 90 wins to just 60 losses and the magic number is down to four. Their lead over division foes Colorado is 5 games. The win which put the team 30 games over .500 for the first time since 1985, sank the Giants to 4.5 games back in the Wild-Card race. In a remarkable year that saw the Dodgers lead the majors for all of the spring and early summer, being highlighted by the emergence of a dynamic duo in the outfield, the team is now poised to win 97 games. That would be the highest total since they emerged victorious 98 times, way back in 1977. It's also a possibility they could see the 100 win mark if they get any hotter over the seasons remaining twelve games. (3 @ Was., 4 @ Pitts., 2 @ S.D., 3 vs. Col.)

"This club is playing with a purpose right now," said manager Joe Torre. "They understand what's out there and what's at stake and they can't expect anyone else to do it for them."

Sunday's win marked the last game between rivals LA and San Francisco for the 2009 season. The Dodgers won not just this series, but also the season series by a 8-5 margin. Randy Wolf the Dodgers southpaw starter (11-6), won the game on 6 plus strong innings. He gave up only two runs, both solo homers to Andres Torres, 5 hits, 2 bases on balls, and struck out three. For Wolf, it has been consistency that keeps him successful. He is 6-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his last eight starts. The Dodgers are now 21-11 in games he starts, and after going six innings against the Giants, Wolf topped the 200 inning mark for the first time since 2003. For Giants ace, Tim Lincecum it wasn't such a happy day. San Francisco was looking for wins as they battle the Rockies for the NL Wild-Card spot. Lincecum, the defending NL Cy Young Award winner, came into the game with the leagues lowest ERA. He was promptly given the boot by a Dodgers offense that retired him to the bench after just four plus innings, his shortest start since Opening Day.

"Definitely today was a big game. You can tell by the look on my face I'm not really happy about my outing and the way I let the team down," said Lincecum. "It's hard to say you let the team down, but I just felt like I could have done a better job out there, put up a better fight, and hopefully it would have been a closer game. But that wasn't the case today."

That wasn't the case at all as Andre Ethier belted a two-run blast, his 31st as well as his 100 and 101st RBIs, to right center field two batters after Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf drew a four pitch walk in the third inning. Shortstop Rafeal Furcal also had a triple and recently acquired Ronnie Belliard drove in two runs in the 6-2 win. After the game Ethier commented on the opposing pitching as well as his own accomplishments of reaching the 100 RBI mark. He is the first Dodger to do so since J.D. Drew in 2006, and the first to have a 30 Hr/100 RBI season since Adrian Beltre in 2004. "That's why teams have an ace," said Ethier. "They don't get beat too often. This is a good test and warmup for what's to come hopefully." He also added, "Seeing those guys, when you're growing up, hitting 100 RBIs, they're the guys doing the job and now I'm one of them." Almost lost in the mix was another solid performance by the Los Angeles bullpen. Hong-Chih Kuo, George Sherrill, and Jonathan Broxton three three perfect innings to end the game. Sherrill and Broxton each had two strikeouts. Broxton is tied for eighth overall and sits fourth in the NL in saves with 35.

I suppose not only is wining infectious, but it's fun. The sold-out game on Sunday that lasted two hours and 38 minutes had a couple of amusing moments for the fans as well. In the outfield it wasn't just 'Manny being Manny' but 'Ethier being Ethier' as well. The top of the sixth inning saw an Andres Torres home run blasted deep into the left-field pavilion. Slugger Ramirez immediately turned to the crowd and opened his glove motioning for the fans to throw the ball back on to the field. After a couple seconds of contemplation the ball was thrown back and then Manny, apparently pleased, threw the ball back to the fans for a souvenir. An inning later in the seventh, Andre Ethier gave a thumbs up to a lucky young fan sitting in the front row of the right-field pavilion, who was shown on the Kiss-Cam enjoying a smooch with not one but two beautiful women who sat surrounding him. We may well soon see the Dodgers outfielders kissing and raising a Commissioner's Trophy, awarded to the winners of the World Series.

If you'd like to see some more interesting facts about the Dodgers-Giants rivalry check out www.great-sports-rivalries.com. I found some neat facts there, as well as the bat-to-the-head picture seen above.

Dodger dreamin'

Los Angeles, Ca

It's a warm 74˚ night in LA and the stadium at Chavez Ravine sits empty under the stars. It's Thursday September 17th, and the Dodgers are tops in the National League with an impressive 88-59 record. Only the New York Yankees, the team last headed by LA's current skipper Joe Torre, have a better mark in all of baseball. (94-53) This ball club that plays it's games 2.8 miles from the nearby Venice Beach has no Mr. October, and certainly no Mr. November. What this team does offer is a lineup chalk full of talented, hungry players anchored by two young home-grown studs in Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Oh yeah, they have a character named Manny Ramirez as well, and he's pretty good at this baseball thing.

Tomorrow starts a three game series with arch rival San Francisco. As the players are surely spending time with there families resting and slumbering before a weekend workout with the team by the bay, GM Ned Colletti should be resting easy. He is the man charged with putting this squad together and he has done a fine job. Mr. Frank McCourt owns the team, Joe Torre manages them, but it is Mr. Colletti that has been busy piecing together talent for a championship run. Los Angeles last won a World Series in 1988, 21 long years ago, too far off for such a large market team with throngs of amazing fans that keep the turn-styles spinning year after year in record numbers. Through 75 home games this year, the Dodgers lead the league in attendance drawing 3,442,261 fans. That's a lot of Farmer John Dodger Dog's, in fact as of 2005 at least 1.61 million per season.

"When a team plays hard and puts itself in position to win, they deserve to see that you're trying to get them more tools to win." -- Ned Colletti

This weekend's matchup will feature two pitchers Vicente Padilla (picked up after the Rangers released him) and Jon Garland (acquired via trade for Tony Abreu Aug. 31) who GM Colletti recently brought in to help push the Dodgers further through the playoffs. Sunday afternoon the man on the mound facing off with SF's ace Tim Lincecum, will be Randy Wolf. It was Colletti again that re-signed Wolf for $5 million back in February after pitching last for the Houston Astros. The three have combined for a 15-6 record with neither the newly acquired Garland or Padilla recording a loss for Los Angeles thus far.

Offensively speaking Manny Ramirez was brought in at the trade deadline last year in a three way deal with the Pirates and Red Sox. Not only did Colletti get Boston to pay Ramirez's remaining salary, he only had to give up Andy LaRoche and pitching prospect Bryan Morris. Manny promptly hit .396 with 17 HR's and 53 RBIs in as many games down the stretch. This year he's hitting .302 with 18 HR's and 56 RBIs in 91 games. (he missed 50 games for violating the leagues substance abuse policy - human chorionic gonadotropin) Our young guns, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have done nothing but blossom into fine ball players this year. Kemp is sitting at .305 with 24 HR's and 94 RBIs, and has vastly improved his outfield play. Ethier continues to be one of the premiere clutch performers in baseball. He leads all big leaguers with six walk-off winners this year, four by way of the home run ball.

With October looming and the rosters set, it is now up to the Dodgers players to do the rest. Joe Torre has the pieces. Now it's his turn to fit them into this post season puzzle and hopefully come out on top. His resume speaks for itself. With two AL Manager of The Year awards sitting atop his mantelpiece next to 4 World Series trophies, Mr. Torre is a proven winner. Now all of Los Angeles is hoping to share some of that success. The Series is tentatively scheduled to start Oct. 28, the latest start ever, now in it's 105th edition.

Ice cold!

Los Angeles, Ca

When Andre Ethier stepped in the batters box to face Pirates relief pitcher Phil Dumatrait in the bottom of the 13th inning on Tuesday night, he led all major leaguers with five walk-off hits this season. Then he did it again! Driving a first pitch fastball deep to right field, and out of the park propelling the Dodgers to a 5-4 win, and helping to extend their lead in the West to 5 games over the recently struggling Rockies. With the late inning blast Ethier became the first Dodger left handed batter to reach the 30 HR mark since Shawn Greene did it in 2002, and the first to reach the milestone since Adrian Beltre knocked in 48 in 2004. As has usually been the case, Ethier wasn't alone. His outfield mate Matt Kemp drove Ethier home in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 3-3.

"You pinch yourself now," said Ethier, who now has four game winners via the longball. "To hit one in a season, to hit one in a couple of years is a great thing. To hit more than a couple? I don't know what's going on. But it's fun and I'm going to enjoy it while I'm doing it."

Ethier is batting .283 with an .896 OPS, 40 doubles, 98 RBIs, and a club high 30 HR.

Los Angeles is now 28 games over .500 (87-59) and have a 5 game lead over Colorado, while San Francisco lingers close-by at 7.5 games back. It seemingly took the Dodgers match-ups with their hated rivals (SF) and now a last place team (Pittsburgh) to get themselves on track, but they are looking like world beaters again. This team is starting to come together in a way that made them look unbeatable in the early days of the season, especially with the emergence of rising stars Kemp and Ethier carrying the team. Also looking bright for the boys in blue is a pitching staff that appears to be coming together in time for a post season push. Huroki Kuroda is back from the DL after taking a laser-like comebacker to the dome in early August, Randy Wolf is feeling better in the elbow area, newly acquired pitchers John Garland and Vicente Padilla are both pitching well and despite recent struggles, Dodgers Opening-Day and All-Star starter Chad Billingsley is feeling confident. Manager Joe Torre seems to be just as optimistic for his club. "As Yogi would say, 'It's déjà vu all over again,'" said Torre talking about Ethier. "You've seen him do it, you want to visualize it. And when he does it, it's just surreal. We talk about guys growing up and this kid is just growing as he goes, " Torre said. "He's been through some rough spots, he fights himself, he probably gets himself out a lot of times - but he's not afraid of the spotlight."

Developing a Dodgers dynamic duo!

Los Angeles, CA

At Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night it was fireworks early and acrobatics late that led the Dodgers to their NL best 79th win of the season. With the help of a marvelous catch at the wall by Andre Ethier to end the eighth inning, Los Angeles (79-54) held on to beat Arizona (60-73 ) 4-3, and keep their lead over Colorado and San Francisco at 5.5 games. Ethier also gave the Dodgers their go ahead run in the bottom of the seventh taking a 3-1 count for a walk with the bases loaded. Ethier's special catch appeared to save a potential go-ahead home run with a runner on first.

"Troncoso had to come in with a good pitch and I was expecting Allen to get a good swing, so I knew I had to get a good jump if he hit it," Ethier said. "I got aggressive, saw the ball off the bat, got a good jump and stayed with it the whole way."

After crashing into the wall, tumbling down, smiling to center fielder Matt Kemp, and showing that he still held the ball, the inning was over. A much appreciative Ramon Troncoso awaited the right-fielder with a fist pound as he jogged in. "I half-jumped and ran through the wall at the same time," said Ethier. "I checked my body with the wall." That read, that catch, that analysis. That is the kind of play coaches will be showing Little Leaguers around the country. Attentiveness and good hustle have a way of making players shine in the biggest moments. What a catch.

It wasn't all Andre Ethier on this Tuesday night in Tinseltown either. As the Arizona State product was busy taking walks and flashing the leather, another young gun was getting things done. With a loud crack of his bat, Matt Kemp hit a solo-shot over the left center fence to get things rolling in the first inning. It was Kemp's fourth home run (23) in as many games. Matt Kemp has gotten so good so fast as of late, it will be no surprise if he reaches the 30/30 mark by seasons end. His 23 HR's and 87 RBIs (just 1 behind team leader Ethier) are both career highs and at 29 he is just six shy of his career best in stolen bases. To top it off he is batting .316 good for 13th in the Majors and he really looks like he's coming into his own. As if Kemp soaring to new heights wasn't enough, in the sixth inning a small remote-control plane interrupted play for about two minutes. The plane that appeared to be handmade at first went about making acrobatic loops, circling over the field, soaring and diving, before eventually crashing into the barrier of the Diamondbacks dugout. Fittingly as the planes night came to a halt, so did that of Dodgers starter Vicente Padilla, all the tune of M.I.A.'s Paper Airplanes playing throughout the stadium. Reactions to the plane varied with Vin Scully finding it briefly cute but worried about a potential recurring distraction. After its long flight it shared the same fate as Lost Flight 815, ripped in two, as Arizona's Augie Ojeda destroyed it to the dismay of the crowd. "Only in Hollywood," Ojeda said. "It's the first time I've ever seen that. It landed right next to me, so I figured I would put it to an end." It was Air Force night at Dodger Stadium.

For Vicente Padilla making his second start for the Dodgers since coming over from the Texas Rangers, he looked alright. After a shaky first inning in which he walked the first two batters, Padilla corrected his arm angle and pitched well. Padilla was pulled by skipper Joe Torre after 5 1/3 innings, throwing 97 pitches, and giving up only one run on a bases loaded come-backer single that went off his calf. He gave up 4 hits, walked 2, and struck out 5. His left calf was badly bruised and he appeared to be limping heavily throughout the clubhouse after the game. Torre should be able to give him an extra day of rest with the likely return of Huroki Kuroda to the rotation this weekend. Kuroda was placed on the DL after taking a come-backer off his head two weeks ago.

Look for Matt Kemp to be in the running for Player of the Week or possibly even Month, if he continues his sharp play. The center fielder is hitting .391 with six homers, 11 RBIs and four steals in his last 12 games.