LAst Night's Action: Dodgers Blast Cubbies

Joe Torre and Lou Piniella greeting each other at home plate. AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

LA Dodgers defeat Chicago Cubs 7-2. Derek Lowe made only one mistake to Mark DeRosa in the second inning in his six innings of work, and the Dodgers used the long ball to give the them their second postseason victory since 1988. Things didn't look good for the Dodgers in the third inning when Andre Ethier struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded. But with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, James Loney recovered from swinging at two awful pitches and hit a belt-high change up out to the bleachers. This was the third grand slam in Dodgers history, the last two coming on consecutive days by Ron Cey and Dusty Baker in 1977. In the seventh inning Manny Ramirez dug a homer out of a ball that was no higher than a tee shot and blasted it deep in the bleachers while stumbling out of his shoes. Ramirez leads all hitters in baseball history with his 25th home run in the postseason. The Dodgers lead the best-of-five series 1-0.

Boston Red Sox defeat LA Angels 4-1. For seven innings the folks down in Anaheim witnessed a pitchers duel between John Lackey and Jon Lester. The only mistake by Lackey was a two-run homer he gave up to Jason Bay (aka Manny II) in the sixth inning to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. The Angels had base runners on throughout the night but, like the Cubs, were denied home plate by the excellent pitching from Lester. But in the eighth inning the Angels relievers wilted with Scot Shields giving up two additional runs. Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon had a Francisco Rodriguez-esque ninth inning to save the game. And the Princess (JD Drew) made an appearance going 0-for-4 with a strikeout for the Red Sox. Vladimir Guerrero showed that he still can't come through in October inexplicably running through a stop sign by the third base coach and getting tagged out by a mile at third.

Tonight's Action

LA Dodgers at Chicago Cubs. Game two of the series has Chad Billingsley getting the start for the Dodgers against Carlos Zambrano. 6:30 pm TBS, AM 790 KABC (Local), AM 710 KSPN (National).