The Dodgers weren't exactly limping going into Angel Stadium; after all, getting swept on the road isn't the most noteworthy stumble, and besides, they'd swept the lowly Pirates and salvaged the last game of the Seattle series just before that. Despite losing the division lead to San Diego, it wasn't like they were hopelessly out of first; even the division-trailing Diamondbacks were only four and a half games out, and nobody had really made a move to dominate the division.

So when Brad Penny ascended the mound to dominate the Angels over seven strong innings, it came as a welcome reminder that the team could actually win games. His resulting win — a 6-1 Dodger victory — brought Penny a 9-2 record, the best season opening of his career, a prelude to his All-Star bid.

Andre Ethier's heroics at the plate had a lot to do with that win, reminding Dodger fans of one of Ned Colletti's better trades this year, that of Milton Bradley for Ethier. Ethier went 3-4 including a home run, and drove in a pair; hitting an absurd .480 against Angels pitching this year, he was also assisted by Nomar Garciaparra (2-4), Kenny Lofton (2-5), and Matt Kemp (2-4).

For the Angels, the game looked like just another replay of the same problems the team's had all year: Bartolo Colón's injury sapped him of velocity and therefore effectiveness, and the lineup struggled to score runs. Vlad Guerrero compounded the already bad situation for the Angels by throwing a ball away, an error that allowed Jeff Kent to score.

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Memories of Colletti's good trades were about to get erased the very next day, when fifth starter Mark Hendrickson gave up five runs, albeit only one of them earned thanks to a very shaky Dodger defense that registered three errors, one by Hendrickson himself. His shabby play lowlighted a 9-2 loss for the Dodgers that did nothing to change my perception of the Navarro trade as a mistake.

Aaron Sele, rarely used from the bullpen in his career, came in and loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, and then Hong-Chih Kuo walked in a run, and another on a Chone Figgins groundout. It simply wasn't the Dodgers' day.

Plate discipline freak Mike Napoli — a freak on this team because he actually has some — got the first multi-homer game of his short career, further entrenching himself into the hearts of hero-starved Angels fans. Garret Anderson and Juan Rivera, two Angels who needed good games, finally got them with multi-hit showings, with Anderson collecting the 2,000th hit of his long career. And Kelvim Escobar once again returned to the form that made him so dominant in 2005, striking out six batters and pitching a scoreless seven frames.

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At last we come to Sunday's 4-0 Angels win, a fine outing by the dominant John Lackey. Forget Bartolo Colón, Lackey's the real ace of this staff, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. Quietly moving into the ranks of the elite pitchers in the offense-heavy American League, he leads the rotation in strikeouts per game and ERA.

Lackey fanned ten, matching a career high, but he wasn't the only Angel to have an extraordinary day. All through the series, Orlando Cabrera continued his remarkable on-base streak, getting on for 59 consecutive games, and eventually stealing home against Dodgers rookie pitcher Chad Billingsley uncontested.

Billingsley struggled to keep up with Lackey and the Angels, hurt again by errors by J.D. Drew and Rafael Furcal, whose shabby glovework has yet to abate.

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For the Dodgers, the series left them a game and a half back of San Diego, good for fourth place in the tightly-packed NL West; but for the last-place Angels, the news was far better. Though still in last place, the Angels found themselves a much more manageable five games behind first-place Oakland.