Loretta walks over Cards!

Los Angeles, CA

With bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the 9th inning, Mark Loretta did what the youngsters dream about everywhere. He smacked a line-drive to shallow left field that plated the Dodgers 3rd, and winning run in walk-off fashion. Similar to kids of the sandlot, Loretta accomplished the feat in his own backyard. The 11 year veteran grew up in nearby Arcadia, just twenty minutes from Dodger Stadium.

"I feel like this is the best moment of my career, for sure," Loretta said. "As long as you're on the roster, you have a chance. Joe [Torre] had a lot of tough choices to pick. But once you're on the roster, anything can happen. The game was already tied at the time, so I felt like all the pressure was on them at that point, and I was fortunate to find a little bit of fairway out there."

The big hit and the Dodgers unlikely 3-2 victory over St. Louis most likely wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of 3B Casey Blake. It was Blake that made Ryan Franklin work so hard, keeping himself at the plate for a nine pitch at-bat. There was also a controversial check-swing call by 1B umpire Mike Everitt putting Casey in a hole with a 1-2 count. Blake battled, fouled off three, watched three more miss, and was awarded a walk. In turn Franklin had to throw strikes for Ronnie Belliard, who hit the first pitch he saw to plate Juan Pierre and the tying run. "Blake just wore down their pitcher," said center fielder Matt Kemp.

On the mound Clayton Kershaw was equally impressive in his playoff debut. He came out strong and pitched a 1,2,3 first inning. He did give up a Matt Holliday solo HR and a pair of singles in the second, as well as 1 more earned run in the seventh. Overall the 21 year old lefty looked sharp. Kershaw pitched a 2 hit game for 6 2/3 innings, striking out 4 and giving up only 1 intentional walk to Pujols. When evaluating himself, he wasn't slinging praises as much as his teammates and skipper.

"It was OK," Kershaw said. "Wainright, he's going to be the Cy Young [award winner] for a reason. Anytime you pitch against a guy like that, you know you can't give up too many runs and I made a couple of mistakes. I came out of the game losing," he said. "When you're pitching in the postseason, you want to give your team a chance to win, and coming out of the game losing is not what you want to do... I did all right. I'm not saying I didn't do fine, but it could have been better."

Torre saw it differently, "I was very comfortable watching Kershaw pitch today, said the skipper. "I thought he responded to the challenge very, very well." Right fielder Andre Ethier added, "He's not going to back down -- he hasn't ever before."

The Dodgers now head back to St. Louis with a commanding 2-0 series lead for game three Saturday. First pitch is set for 3:07 p.m. Pacific time. Rock and Roll legend, Slash of Guns and Roses fame entertained fans with his rendition of the National Anthem before the game as well as God Bless America in the seventh inning.