I’m glad that horrible stretch is over. And with rumors of the Dodgers possibly trading for Miguel Tejada, we could have some help on the way. Even with the three wins this weekend, the Dodgers have an up hill battle though.
Friday was a beatdown. The Dodgers had their 13 runs by the sixth inning and Chad Billingsley had a very nice start. He gave up a single run on four hits and five walks with five strikeouts in six innings. J.D. Drew hit a grand slam and Russell Martin had three hits and three runs.
Russ Martin’s two run double in the seventh was the difference in yesterday’s game. Martin finished the game with four RBIs, including two on his fifth homerun of the season. Olmedo Saenz scored two runs in the 7-5 win and Derek Lowe improved to 8-7 with five mediocre innings.
The Dodgers came from behind to top the Nationals this afternoon. Down 3-2, Jose Cruz, Jr. hit a solo homerun in the seventh to tie the game up. Then Cesar Izturis doubled home a run in the eighth to give the Dodgers the lead. Jon Broxton picked up the win and he’s now 2-0 while Takashi Saito picked up his ninth save of the season. Newcomer Wilson Betemit had three hits in his Dodger debut today.
Next up is a big three game set against the Wild Card leading Reds. There’s no better way to make up ground then to beat the leader, so this is obviously a huge series. The Dodgers are still in the NL West cellar, but they’re only five games out and could jump to third with a good series. The Dodgers trail the Reds by five games for the wild card and have only three games in front of them (with the Brewers tied with the Dodgers).
