These past four wins have been nothing short of huge. With today’s win, the Dodgers will be no worse then one game ahead of the Phillies and one game back of the Padres. If they get some help, the Dodgers are tied for the NL West and two games ahead of the Phillies with only three left to play.
And what an odd series it was. Colorado had lost some of it’s hitters mystique this year but that wasn’t apparant in this series. On Tuesday, the Dodgers ran up the score on the Rockies to the tune of eleven runs on seventeen hits. Nomar Garicaparra and Marlon Anderson both homered and Russ Martin drove in four runs in the 11-4 rout. Greg Maddux evened his record to 14-14 with six solid innings.
Yesterday’s game was the closest of the three. Down 4-1, the Dodgers scored two in the sixth to cut the lead to a single run, then they scored three in the seventh to take a 6-4 lead that would hold. Wilson Betemit homered and J.D. Drew drove in two runs with a triple in that sixth inning. Derek Lowe was only okay in six innings of work but he did enough to pick up win number 16.
Today’s game was bizarre. The Rockies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and Brad Penny left the game with a bad back. The Dodgers then scored eight unanswered and looked comfortably in front to make it 8-3 but the Rockies scored seven in the fourth to make it 10-8. The Dodgers then scored nine unanswered runs and that lead held with the final being 19-11. James Looney tied a franchise record with nine RBIs and he went yard twice. Kenny Lofton and Marlon Anderson also went deep. Chad Billingsley was bombed and he saw his ERA go from 3.34 to 3.84 in a hurry.
The Dodgers close out the regular season with three against the Giants. Man is this some drama.
