LAst Night's Action: Dodgers Sweep DBacks To Get Even

LA Dodgers defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 6-3. Triple Crown leading Andre Ethier had a rough kind of night despite hitting the leather off the ball. Unfortunately for the most part there was someone where the ball ended up. All except for in the fourth inning when he drew first blood with an opposite-field two-run homer. Casey Blake made an oopsie that helped the DBacks tie the game in the home half of that inning, but Matt Kemp hit an RBI single for the Dodgers to retake the lead 3-2. With how horrible their bullpen has been, DBacks manager AJ Hinch left starter Edwin Jackson in the game with runners on second and third with Andre Ethier at the plate and had a decision to make. Walk Ethier to get to Manny or take your chances with Ethier? He chose the former loading the bases, and Manny belted a bases-clearing double to centerfield to blow the game open 6-2. The DBacks added a run in the eighth, but that would be it. Dodgers’ starter Hiroki Kuroda had another good outing going 7 1/3 innings striking out nine hitters walking only one while giving up six hits. The Dodgers have now clawed back to .500 for the first time since April 21 and will look to have a winning record for the first time on Friday in San Diego.

Tampa Bay Rays defeat LA Angels 4-3. Jered Weaver’s career-high 12 strikeouts weren’t enough to compensate for the slop all around him. Third baseman Kevin Frandsen led off the game with a throwing error allowing Jason Bartlett to reach first base. Bartlett came in on a double by Ben Zobrist. Later in the inning catcher Ryan Budde had a passed ball which allowed another unearned run to score putting Weaver in a quick 2-0 hole. Another passed ball by Budde allowed a run to score in the fifth inning. Weaver finally gave up an earned run in the sixth inning when BJ Upton singled home Evan Longoria who led off the inning with a double. Meanwhile Rays’ starter David Price was just good enough giving up three runs in 6 1/3 innings. Rafael Soriano got his ninth save of the year pitching a perfect ninth. The Rays have now won their first series against the Angels in Anaheim since 1999.

NOTABLE NOTES

• CELTIC’S TOWN? Can it be? Can Lakers fans all across the expanse of this city be rooting for the hated guys in green? Is the hate for LeBron James that huge that they suffer from temporary amnesia of that odious Red Auerbach lighting up the victory cigar at the expense of the Lakers? Traitors, all of yas! Well the program director of our ESPN Radio affiliate and Lakers’ flagship station AM 710 KSPN made the move to get the Game 6 of the Celtics-Cavaliers series to be broadcasted for all of us to enjoy. The ESPN Radio broadcast of the game with play-by-play announcer Jim Durham and legendary coach Dr. Jack Ramsay doing color can be heard at 5 pm.
• LES HABITANTS GAGNE! The eighth seeded Montreal Canadiens had to claw and scratch their way to the playoffs. With 88 points they wouldn’t have been anywhere near sniffing distance to the playoffs had they played in the Western Conference. But they got in and upset the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the first round coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. But surely the couldn’t do the same with the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Oh but they did as 20,000 Quebecois watched the game at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Fuelled by former King Michael Cammalleri and his league-leading 12 goals in the playoffs and a great goaltending by Jaroslav Halak, les Habitants held the next greatest one Sidney Crosby to only five points with one goal and a -1 rating. It was truly a LeBron-esque performance by Crosby, but he gets a pass since he actually did win a championship with the Penguins last year and scored the game-winning goal in overtime for Team Canada. Meanwhile I’m done doubting le Tricolore. They will be the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since they last did so in 1993 against the Kings.
• CUSHING KEEPS AWARD. Houston Texans’ and for USC Trojans’ linebacker Brian Cushing kept his AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award after an unprecedented revote by football writers and broadcasters. Cushing received 18 votes with Buffalo Bills’ safety Jairus Byrd received 13 votes in the revote. The original vote was a landslide for Cushing who received 39 votes to six for Byrd. The revote was sparked after it was released that Cushing first received a positive test of HCG - the same female fertility drug that Dodgers’ slugger Manny Ramirez was busted for last year - in September. Cushing is still suspended for the first four games for the Texans.
• BRADEN’S TOUR. One of the perks of pitching a perfect game is presenting a top-ten list on Late Night with David Letterman.

TONIGHT’S ACTION

Nothing!