Good Beginnings

If you showed up late for game 3 you missed everything worth watching. The top of the lineup did their job with three quick singles and just like the last two games the Dodgers had a run. The real question was could they get more then one. Twice they had been denied by the smallest of margins in games one and two of that precious 2nd run early in the games.

Martin was then hit and we had the bases loaded, no outs and the noted Moyer killer in the batters box. The crowd was smelling blood and Nomar seemed like the best candidate to slice into the Moyer carcass. Alas, Moyer didn't become one of best 40-45 year old pitchers in history by folding when things got tough, and he sent Nomar back to the bench a victim of a called 3rd strike.  Casey Blake was next in line and when he sent a shot into right field we had our two runs. Could we get more? Could we take all of the tension out of the game right now?

Up stepped Matt Kemp who has taken some hits with his inability to deliver that run from 3rd base in the postseason. Three months ago Matt Kemp looked like a world beater, three months later he appears to be over matched with critics pointing to his helpless at bats in key situations and his protectors pointing to his age.  He worked the count in his favor, it looked for all the world that this time Matt Kemp would deliver the goods. It was not to be, Moyer again battled back and sent another slugger trudging back to the dugout, another victim of a called 3rd strike. Three games in a row Matt Kemp has walked up with a runner on 3rd base with less then two outs and three times he has struck out. 

Two outs, bases loaded and only two runs in.  Blake DeWitt had shown an ability to make contact when needed but this scenario called for a hit. The odds did not look good. DeWitt was 1/2 the age of Moyer, how often has that happened in a postseason game? Two quick strikes later and the crowd had started to resign itself to getting the minimum out of the maximum as the cagey veteran looked like he was playing with him. 

Then the most improbable Dodger in the starting lineup worked his way back into the count. Just one pitch away from wriggling out of his jam Moyer learned why Blake DeWitt is the Solution, and as the ball screamed down the right field line, the boy had bested the cagey veteran. It was the biggest hit of his young career,  by the time Jason Werth had chased it down, the Solution was standing on 3rd base, and this game was history. 

Moyer had to work hard to bring down the Bison, maybe he just didn't have enough to get DeWitt out. Maybe the Bison did his job after all? He didn't flail away this time, this time he worked the count and got rung up on a questionable call. Of course this was against a pitcher who gave up 5 hits to the other 8 hitters so maybe the silver lining I'm looking for is a mirage.  For the most part these 5 runs were a team effort.

Blanton is coming off a great clinching performance against the Brewers, can he do it again? As a Dodger fan I was happy when Blanton ended up in Philly because I didn't want him to become a member of the Dodgers. He has been effective but I don't like him. He's the kind of pitcher that Manny feasts on and Manny's 1320 OPS against him confirms it. SSS be damned Manny owns him.