Dodgers Sweep the Rockies, Remain Two Games Behind Cardinals

Against all odds, common sense, logic and what not, the Dodgers are still in contention for the final wild card spot. Coming into Sunday's game the Dodgers trailed the St. Louis Cardinals by two games for that final spot with four games left.

Before the game the Dodgers showed the Nationals-Cardinals game on DiamondVision. After the Cardinals took the early 5-0 lead, the powers-that-be opted to resume the normal pregame entertainment consisting mostly of advertisements and bland middle-of-the-road safe pop music.

At game time it looked like the Dodgers needed a win just to stay two games back behind the Cardinals. Fortunately with a hobbled Rockies club that just called up their starting centerfielder Rafael Ortega from the Instructional League this morning, the Dodgers were able to breeze to a 7-1 victory.

Okay, a breeze probably would have helped out for the 35,607 in attendance as the temperature at first pitch was 95 degrees. However that probably would have cooled off Matt Kemp whose 461-foot homer Saturday night was fresh in everyone's minds.

Just as the Cardinals 10-4 victory went final and the Dodgers trailing 1-0 in the fourth inning, Kemp hit a two-run homer to give the Dodgers the 2-1 lead, his third in two games.

"See the ball, hit the ball," Kemp tried to explain his recent power surge. "I can't really explain what it is."

Hoping not the be overlooked Luis Cruz, sans headache and any concussion symptoms, followed suit with a two-run homer of his own that landed in the Dodger bullpen.

Cruz left Saturday's game in the seventh inning with a headache that stemmed from getting hit behind the ear in the batting cages before that game. "I'm feeling good," Cruz told me before Sunday's game. "I'm ready to go."

Hanley Ramirez added a run in the fifth inning hitting a single with the bases loaded and two outs that scored Shane Victorino who went 3-for-4 for the game. Kemp was sent home by third-base coach Tim Wallach but was caught at home by a good throw from left fielder Charlie Blackmon to end the inning. Kemp did his part to try and score — ask catcher Jordan Pacheco whom Kemp tackled.

A.J. Ellis, not wanting to see his five-game streak of driving a run go into the ether, hit a two-run homer of his own in the sixth inning.

With the left-handed starter Jorge De La Rosa on the mound of the Rockies, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had Ethier hitting seventh in the lineup.

"It's really the spot that allows somebody to protect Hanley," Mattingly said before the game about backing up his five-hitter. "I want him in the lineup. It's kind of the way the lineup works as much as anything. Cruz fits in there behind Hanley. It forces them, you hope, to pitch to Hanley a little bit more."

Ramirez went 2-for-4 with an RBI while Ethier got on base once on a 13-pitch walk in the sixth inning off of right-handed reliever Alex White.

All of the offense made Dodger starter Josh Beckett's day much easier who admitted he wasn't at his best. "I felt like I left some balls up," Beckett said.

In the third inning of the scoreless game Beckett loaded the bases with one out on a walk to Ortega. Second baseman Mark Ellis made a spectacular play starting a double play to end the inning.

"Two runs probably would have scored on that," Beckett commented on what could have been a bad situation. "Everybody would have been happy with getting just one [out]."

Of course Beckett was familiar with Ellis' body of work having faced off against him while he was in Boston and Ellis was with Oakland.

"He was a guy we joked about all he does is get the job done every time," Beckett said about the chatter about Ellis in the Red Sox clubhouse. "That's how he's been all of his whole career. That's why he's looked at amongst his peers like that."

That play went a long way into limiting the damage done to Beckett: a solo homer by Andrew Brown in the fourth inning. For Beckett the six innings qualified him for what is termed a quality start.

"I made pitches when I needed to," Beckett said. "I think that's what it usually boils down to."

For a team that seems to be running in place, no one is hanging their heads.

"As long as we keep winning, we have hope," Kemp said.

The Dodgers remain two games back of the Cardinals but now with only three games remaining. The elimination number for the Dodgers is now at two.

Mattingly realizes they have no one to blame but themselves for where they are at. "We put ourselves in this position, so right now the only thing we can control is putting a win on the board," he said.

Kemp continued to have the glass-is-half-full outlook on the situation with the NL West division winners San Francisco Giants coming into town to end the season.

"We win out and Cincinnati plays a good St. Louis team three good times. Hopefully they sweep them or get two from them. Then we go wherever it takes us."

One place it won't take the Dodgers is to Milwaukee who was knocked out after their 7-0 loss to the Houston Astros. The Cardinals and the Dodgers remain the lone teams left to fight for that final wild card spot in the National League.