The Dodgers keep doing it. Thanks to A.J. Ellis' walk-off homer the Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 6-3.
The (Not So) Secret to the Dodgers Success...
Are the Dodgers Starting to Fall Back Down to Earth?
Perhaps this is Icarus falling to the ground. After an 11-4 hiccup Wednesday night in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers flailed against the Houston Astros losing 3-1 to start a seven-game homestand against the NL Central.
LAst Night's Action: Kings Break Through to Second Round
LA Kings defeat Vancouver Canucks 2-1 (OT). After losing the last two regular season games to the San Jose Sharks by choking two-goal leads in the third period, there didn't seem to be much hope for this team. It seemed as if the fire went out as soon as they clinched a playoff berth despite having the chance of being the 3-seed. And that's almost never a good omen for a playoff bound team. But after storming out of the gate winning the first two games in Vancouver, anything could happen.
LAst Night's Action: No Revenge for the Lakers against the Spurs
San Antonio Spurs defeat LA Lakers 121-97. No defense, no win. In Kobe Bryant's return after sitting out seven games with a shin injury, the Lakers supposedly bolstered defense was a sieve to the Spurs. Bryant had 18 points in his return while Andrew Bynum had 17 points and only two rebounds. In fact the Spurs out-rebounded the Lakers 42-29.
Sellers Makes Kuroda's Game a Dream
The Dodgers reported that they had at least 5,000 walkups for Sunday’s game. Perhaps those 5,000 knew something I didn’t or had some faith in this Dodger team. But what went down at Dodger Stadium in the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros almost turned this heathen atheist into a full-fledged Messiah-loving believer.
Dodgers Sacrificial Fifth Inning Gives Them Some Insurance
Sometimes it’s easy to think you’re too big for your own britches after watching baseball games day after day. Saturday night’s Dodger 6-1 victory over the Houston Astros humbled me a bit, but not because of anything big.
Dodgers Ugly Game a Gem for Youngsters
There was not a whole lot of pretty going on in Dodgers ten-inning 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros. Throughout the night the Dodgers kept stranding runners on base, 12 in all, while going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The offensive ugliness climaxed in the bottom of the ninth inning when the Dodgers failed to score with the bases loaded and no outs. Despite the ugliness that abounded in the game, for several youngsters the game was a dream.
LAst Night's Action: Dodger Rookies Carry Team
LA Dodgers Houston Astros 5-4. It’s 2007 all over again. The Dodger rookies made the most noise as they halted the Dodgers’ three-game losing streak.
LAst Night's Action: Astros Three-Run Ninth Sinks Dodgers
The Dodger bullpen seemed to have stabilized in the month of May. Until Monday night, that is, when Kenley Jansen couldn’t get the crucial third out in the bottom of the ninth when staked to a 3-1 lead.
LAst Night's Action: USC Squeaks Past Virginia
USC Trojans defeat Virginia Cavaliers 17-14. USC got real lucky in this game. Virginia shot themselves in the foot the whole game, but particularly in the first half when a missed field goal and an endzone interception could have given them a 10-0 lead. But the Trojans hung on to their two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the first half while adding a field goal in the fourth quarter to get their second win of the game.
LAst Night's Action: Dodgers Take a Break from Losing
LA Dodgers defeat Houston Astros 4-2 (11 innings). After making a great catch then missing a great catch in left field in the bottom of the tenth, Jay Gibbons belted a two-run homer to give the Dodgers the uncharacteristic victory. Lost in this long and droning game thanks to all the pitching changes were Dodger starter Hiroki Kuroda’s six innings of one-run work which included getting out a bases loaded jam in the fifth inning. Kuroda actually left the game in line to win, but after Ronald Belisario gave up a one-out double to Brett Wallace in the seventh inning George Sherrill gave up an RBI single to Michael Bourn to tie the game until the fateful 11th.
LAst Night's Action: Dodgers Do Nothing in Houston
Houston Astros defeat LA Dodgers 3-2. Another day, another loss. Andre Ethier had staked the Dodgers and Ted Lilly (L, 8-10) to a two-run lead after hitting a homer in the first inning after Jamey Carroll got on base thanks to an error. The lead held up until Lilly made one mistake to Chris Johnson who belted a three-run homer in the sixth. The Dodgers had many opportunities to take the lead, but if you’ve seen the Dodgers lately the results aren’t surprising. John Lindsey got his first at-bat after 16 years in the minors as a pinch hitter for Lilly in the seventh inning. Lindsey flew out to center. The Dodgers now have a six-game losing streak, yet are still not mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
LAst Night's Action: Angels Swept, Dodgers Sweep
Texas Rangers defeat LA Angels 8-7. No lead is ever safe at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Michael Young hit a two-run homer in the third inning to give the Rangers the 2-0 lead. The Angels responded by scoring five in the fourth...
Dodgers Extend Win Streak To Nine
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros 7 - 3 on Andre Ethier Bobblehead Night in front of a sell out crowd of 55,662 to extend the longest current winning streak in Major League Baseball to nine games and sweep the two game Astros series.
LAst Night's Action: Lakers Strike First
LA Lakers defeat Phoenix Suns 128-107. With Kobe Bryant’s knee threatening to squirt fluids on everybody in the first row, he showed how little he cared about that and scored 40 points as he lifted the Lakers to victory. Who needs defense when Pau Gasol adds 21 points, Ron Artest gets 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal, and Lamar Odom makes an appearance with 19 points and 19 rebounds? Hell even with Kobe out in the fourth quarter, the bench kept the lead with Jordan Farmar scoring 10 and Shannon Brown with nine. The Suns’ offense had a big night also with six players scoring in double digits, but they had no answer for Kobe as the Lakers pulled away in the third quarter.
Dodgers Rain Down on Astros
‘Twas a cold miserable night at Dodger Stadium complete with a sort of skywater intermittently trickling down from the heavens at the beginning of the game. But the Dodgers didn’t let that get them down in their 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros.
In fact Dodgers’ starter John Ely made it rain strikes for the Astros grabbing a career high eight strikeouts while walking no one in his third straight game. Ely has not allowed a walk to 84 consecutive batters.
LAst Night's Action: Pirates Outpower Dodgers
Pittsburgh Pirates (1-0) defeat LA Dodgers (0-1) 11-5. Vicente Padilla’s and George Sherrill’s bad spring extended into the first game of the regular season as the Dodgers were shelled by the Pirates in a sunny Pittsburgh. Pirate’s right fielder Garrett Jones feasted on Padilla hitting two homers in his first two at-bats: the first with Akinori Iwamura on first in the first inning that landed in the Allegheny River to tie the game at 2-2...
Dodgers-Astros LiveBlog: The Scorching Intolerable Episode
Matt Kemp carried the Dodgers on his back scoring all four of the Dodgers runs in the 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros. Kemp walked, hit two singles and hit a solo home run in the eighth inning for his grand finale.
"It was a heck of a day," manager Joe Torre said of Kemp. "He had a great day. Obviously we needed every bit of it."
"It was a team effort," Kemp said. "I was just getting on base, and Brad Ausmus just kept driving me in. We were a dynamic duo today."
Dodgers-Astros LiveBlog: Joe Torre Birthday Episode
Timely hits, sweating bullets and strange plays all came together to help give Dodger manager Joe Torre a 5-2 win on his 69th birthday.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw surrendered only two hits and a walk in his seven inning shutout of the Houston Astros. In fact Kershaw is 5-0 in his last seven starts with a 0.63 ERA giving up only three earned runs in that span.
"He's using the off pitches a lot better," Torre said of Kershaw's improvement. "Now that he's getting ahead in the count it makes hitting off him a little less secure."
LAst Night's Action: Lakers Lose Game Three
Utah Jazz defeat LA Lakers 88-86. Everyone knew it was going to be ugly, and boy was it. The Lakers couldn't score in the first quarter, and Carlos Boozer just ate up rebounds. In fact Boozer tied a franchise playoff record getting 22 rebounds. Trailing by as many as 10 in the first quarter the Lakers came back to trail by only four at the half. But the third quarter was all Lakers as they came back and led by as many as 13. But the Jazz started to chip away trading the lead with the Lakers in the final minutes. The Lakers would tie the game leaving 11 seconds on the clock which would give Deron Williams plenty of time to make the winning jumper with two seconds. Andrew Bynum who came into the game complaining about pain in his knee would foul out in the third quarter scoring only four points in seven minutes. Kobe Bryant started out ice cold but would eventually score 18 points while Lamar Odom was a monster posting a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds. I expected the Lakers to lose this game, but they will rebound on Saturday to win game four.
LAst Night's Action: The Road Still Haunts Dodgers
Houston Astros defeat LA Dodgers 6-5. Randy Wolf and Roy Oswalt went tit for tat both giving up four runs in their outings. The big play of the game was Manny Ramirez's booming homer in the top of the sixth inning that literally went out of the park over left field. Ronald Belisario pitched the eighth inning for the Dodgers hoping to cling onto a 5-4 lead. But a homer to Lance Berkman and an RBI single to Ivan Rodriguez after Hunter Pence got on board with a ground-rule double and an intentional walk to Geoff Blum was all she wrote. While it's a little troubling that the Dodgers have problems winning on the road, it's hardly time to sound the warning horns.
LAst Night's Action: Three Out of Four Ain't Bad
LA Dodgers defeat Houston Astros 5-2. Chad Billingsley is starting to live up to his billing. He only gave up two unearned runs in eight innings while throwing only 92 pitches. James Loney, Andre Ethier and Blake DeWitt helped the cause. Loney hit a solo homer and an RBI double, Ethier hit a solo shot and DeWitt drove in two on a single. Heading to San Francisco for this afternoon's game, the Dodgers will be met by Nomar Garciaparra and Andruw Jones. Expect both of them to start.
LAst Night's Action: Dodgers, Angels Roll
LA Dodgers defeat Houston Astros 4-1. They did it with pitching, defense, a squeeze play, power and the bullpen. Whodathunkit? Starter Hiroki Kuroda went seven scoreless innings in his first outing since coming off the disabled list, Luis Maza squeezed in a run in the fourth and Andre Ethier hit a solo shot in the fifth. Meanwhile the Dodgers sent start Clayton Kershaw back down to AA Jacksonville to make room for Kuroda. Hopefully he'll improve on his command. Also word has it the Nomar Garciaparra will be back soon to play shortstop. Though the funniest sentence according to the Dodgers.com piece says, "Garciaparra did not field any balls at short, but he did dive for a couple balls that went up the middle for singles."
LAst Night's Action: Offensive Offense
Houston Astros defeat LA Dodgers 4-1. The Dodgers return to National League play and promptly continue their offensive futility. With Juan Pierre on the disabled list for the first time in his nine-year career, the Dodgers called up Jason Repko from the minors hit lead off. He struck out four times. The rest of the team managed 11 hits but couldn't do anything with those hits. Meanwhile Eric Stults coming off of his complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox got bit by the Astros. The Puma Lance Berkman went yard in the first inning with a solo shot.
LAst Night's Action: Complete Game for Stults
LA Dodgers defeat Chicago White Sox 5-0. Eric Stults just a couple of weeks ago was sweating it out in Vegas. Wednesday night he became the second Dodger pitcher this season to throw a complete game shutout giving up only four hits while walking only one. Stults was right on his game confusing the Sox hitters all night. Meanwhile Joe Torre decided to field a more normal looking lineup including Andre Ethier and Blake DeWitt. Ethier came through in the first inning with an RBI single and scoring a run. DeWitt hit a two-run double in the fourth inning and scoring a run on Stults' sacrifice fly.
LAst Night's Action: A Win Would Be Nice
Utah Jazz over LA Lakers 123-115 (OT). With Kobe Bryant visibly affected by a strained back, the Lakers managed to tie the game at the end of regulation after being down by 12 with four minutes to go. But come overtime, the Lakers could not ride that momentum. The Jazz in a complete role reversal got to the line 45 times as opposed to 25 by the Lakers. The series is now tied 2-2 and returns to the Staples Center on Wednesday.
LAst Night's Action: Let's Hang Our Heads Now
Houston Astros over LA Dodgers 5-0. For the third straight game the Dodger offense looked flat as the Astros were all over start Chad Billingsley who gave up all five runs in the first two innings. The only real positive for the Dodgers was their bullpen with Chan Ho Park pitching a shut out for three innings and Joe Beimel pitching a perfect ninth.
LAst Night's Action: A Bad Day for LA Sports
Utah Jazz defeats LA Lakers 104-99. There was a Carlos Boozer sighting in Salt Lake City. After being ineffective in the first two games at the Staples Center, Boozer woke up scoring 27 points with 20 rebounds while leading the way after the Lakers made a 6-0 run to get within three points at the end of the game. While the Jazz out-rebounded the Lakers yet again, the problem for the Lakers was turnovers. Giving the ball up 18 times is not going to win playoff games no matter who you are. It should be noted the Dodger crowd booed when highlights of the game were shown. In the second round of the playoffs the home team has won every game so far. The Lakers still lead the series two games to one.
WAKE UP!
That was just plain pathetic. Here you have a bad Giant’s team with aging position players and suspect pitching. The Dodgers could only manage one run off of five hits while giving up three runs off of 10 hits and an error in Tuesday night’s loss. The sad thing is nothing the Dodgers have been doing since the Mets series at home would indicate they would muster any sort of production anywhere. They lost...

