Dodgers Allow More Than One Hit, Lose To Phillies

After limiting the Phillies to just one hit in the series opener, the Dodgers were unable to keep that offense down for long, getting thumped 8-4 in the second game of the series at Dodger Stadium.

After two straight starts of 4 1/3 innings, Carlos Monasterios needed a different outing tonight. That's what he provided, but in the opposite direction. Monasterios was pulled with no outs in the third inning, allowing a total of five runs in the shortest outing of his brief career. Monasterios has actually had 11 relief appearances of at least two innings, the length of tonight's start, this season.

With eight relievers currently on the active roster, the Dodgers are working with a four-man bench at the moment. Since one of those bench players is the backup catcher, seemingly always kept in reserve for those just-in-case opportunities, the club really only has three available pinch hitters on the roster on any given night. Couple that with the short outing by Monasterios, and the Dodgers see a situation that came up in the fifth inning.

Ramon Troncoso pitched three innings in relief of Monasterios, but when his spot in the batting order was due in the bottom of the fifth, manager Joe Torre called on Kenley Jansen, not to pitch, but to pinch hit. Jansen, who was a career .229/.310/.347 hitter in the minors -- which is why he was converted from catcher to pitcher -- singled up the middle for his first career hit. He also walked last Thursday in Milwaukee, so Jansen's career on-base percentage sits at 1.000.

The last Dodger pitcher to bat as a pinch hitter was Jason Schmidt, who singled against the Braves on August 2, 2009.

I don't know what was worse about the top of the seventh inning, the douche on his cell phone who tried to catch a foul ball in play (Scott Podsednik made a nice running catch, then careened into the stands, unfortunately not spiking the gentleman on the phone), or that Carlos Ruiz owned Jonathan Broxton again. After George Sherrill walked three, one intentionally, to load the bases with two outs, Broxton was brought in to face the pinch hitter Ruiz with the Phillies leading 6-4. Ruiz scalded a single into left field, driving in two runs, and continuing his hold on Broxton. In six career plate appearances against Broxton, including the postseason, Ruiz has three doubles, a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch, for the robust line of 1.000/1.000/1.750.

Notes

• James Loney's home run in the sixth inning was his ninth of the season, and his first since July 29.
  
• Ruiz didn't even start tonight, but his backup filled in quite nicely for him anywyay, as Brian Schneider's three-run home run in the second inning put the Phillies on the board.
• Kyle Kendrick, who allowed four runs in five innings and didn't strikeout  a batter, picked up the win. It was the 17th win by a starter this season without a strikeout. Monasterios turned the trick on June 7 for the Dodgers, and Kevin Correia accomplished the feat on August 5 against the Dodgers.

Tomorrow's daytime finale is a very nice pitching matchup of Clayton Kershaw and Roy Oswalt.

WP - Kyle Kendrick (9-7):  5 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts

LP - Carlos Monasterios (3-5):  2+ IP, 5 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Box Score