Ethier blast lifts Dodgers!

Los Angeles, CA

In a hard fought opening game with the visiting Atlanta Braves, it was Andre Ethier's late inning heroics once again. After trailing two runs in the 7th inning the Dodgers failed to convert twice (Ramirez, Kemp) leaving all of four men on base from that point on. A statistic that has actually been kind to the team all year, with 848 LOB at the All-Star break, the lowest in the NL. That can only help explain their good record. Thursday night both teams stranded nine total. The Dodgers also lead the NL in hits (1049).

For the Dodgers, Randy Wolf went seven innings giving up 4 runs on nine hits. He also struck out four in his ND effort. This is a ND I'm sure he'll enjoy as it could have been another loss. He had his first career stolen base in the bottom of the fourth eluding Derek Lowe and Brian McCann. He was previously 4-12 lifetime, losing in every decision since 2004 against Atlanta (0-5).

For Atlanta, Chipper crushed his 14th HR, a solo shot off Wolf in the seventh inning. He also posted a single and a double, ending his night just short of the cycle. Not helping the cause, it was Braves closer Rafael Soriano that didn't record an out and served up the decisive walk-off winner to Ethier in the bottom of the ninth. "I didn't have my good stuff that I've had all year," Soriano said after the game. "I missed with a lot of pitches and I had some bad luck." Braves reliever Peter Moylan, who provided timely strikeouts in both the seventh and eighth innings said,

"You just don't expect to see it. It's more of a shock than anything else. You're obviously not happy that you lost. But you are shocked that he actually gave up a run. Soriano has been so good all year."

Time to talk about Ethier, he is hitting .293 with a team-high 23 HRs and he comes up clutch time after time. This was his fifth walk-off hit of the season, also tops on the club, and the Majors for that matter. His high numbers, clutch performances, and good arm from right field are propelling him to become a true fan favorite and go to guy for his club. It was the MLB leading Dodgers 29th come from behind win of the season. That puts the magic number to make the playoffs 48.