Well, that was some final night of baseball, wasn't it? While the Red Sox and Braves snatched defeat from the jaws of victory to complete their dual epic collapses, the Rays and Cardinals were busy snatching their respective wild cards. Meanwhile in Arizona, Matt Kemp, Ted Lilly, and the Dodgers went out winners, 7-5 over the Diamondbacks.

Kemp hit his 39th home run of the season in the seventh inning, to win the outright National League home run crown, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. He had a shot in the ninth inning to join the 40/40 club, but struck out against Ryan Cook. Still, Kemp's season was ridiculous. He hit .324/.399/.586 on the year, and tied for second in the league with 40 steals.

Kemp is the first player to finish in the top two in both home runs and stolen bases since Hank Aaron in 1963.

Kemp lead the league with 39 home runs. Adrian Beltre (2004) is the only other LA Dodger to do that.

Kemp lead the league with 126 RBI. Tommy Davis (1962) is the only other LA Dodger to do that. Davis, with 153 RBI that year, is the only LA Dodger with more RBI in a season than Kemp.

Kemp lead the league with 115 runs scored. Brett Butler (1991) is the only other LA Dodger to do that.

Kemp is the second Dodger ever to lead the league in both runs and RBI, joining Duke Snider (1955).

Kemp is the third Dodger ever to lead the league in both homers and RBI, joining Dolph Camilli (1941) and Oyster Burns (1890).

Kemp lead the league with 353 total bases. The last Dodger to do that was Snider in 1954, when the club was in Brooklyn.

No matter how you slice it, Matt Kemp had a season for the ages. A deserving National League MVP.

Lilly continued his second half resurgence, pitching seven scoreless innings to pick up his 12th win of the season. Since the beginning of August, Lilly put up a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts, with 21 unintentional walks and 64 strikeouts in 69 innings. To top that, Lilly didn't allow a single home run over his last six starts and 42 2/3 innings, avoiding the 30/30 club.

James Loney continued his second half surge with his 12th home run of the season. Loney in his last 35 games of the year hit .388/.438/.679 with 16 doubles and seven home runs.

Dee Gordon had two hits, scored two runs, and added another stolen base. He ended his abbreviated rookie season hitting .304/.325/.362, a remarkable rise considering he was hitting .232/.250/.280 when he was optioned to the minors on July 4. Gordon since his recall on July 31 hit .345/.367/.408 with five walks and 11 strikeouts in 148 plate appearances.

Jerry Sands continued his September run with two more singles, and finished his season with 24 hits in his last 59 at-bats (.407). Fellow rookie Justin Sellers shook off his late slump with two doubles in his final game too.

Eugenio Velez also made history on Wednesday, but not the good kind. He grounded out in the top of the eighth, ending his season at 0 for 37, the most at-bats ever by a position player in without a hit. In addition, Velez is 0 for his last 46, the longest stretch of futility by a position player in major league history, surpassing Bill Bergen (1909) and Craig Counsell (2011).

Kenley Jansen got the final two outs of the season, but amazingly didn't strike anybody out. He ended his season with 96 strikeouts in 53 2/3 innings, a new major league record of 16.10 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Dodgers ended with an 82-79 record, including going 25-10 over their last 35 games.

See you next April 5, when reigning National League Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw goes 1-0 on the season at Petco Park.

WP - Ted Lilly (12-14): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts

LP - Joe Saunders (12-13): 6 IP, 9 hits, 5 runs, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Kenley Jansen (5): 2 up, 2 down

Box Score

The Dodgers scored five runs off noted hitter Micah Owings in the 10th inning, taking what looked like an insurmountable 6-1 lead over the Diamondbacks. The inning prompted me to tweet this:

Micah Owings was 7-0 this season before tonight

Make that 8-0. With a five-run lead, Blake Hawksworth got two groundouts to open the 10th inning, but failed to cover first in time on the third grounder, a nice play by James Loney. A single, a walk, and a fielding error by Aaron Miles led to a run, and led to Javy Guerra pitching for the third straight day.

Guerra walked Aaron Hill to force in a run, but it was still 6-3. No need to worry, right?

Wrong.

Ryan Roberts ended the game with a line drive grand slam over the left field wall, giving Arizona a sudden 7-6 win with just the second home run allowed all season by Guerra in 47 appearances.

The regulation portion of the game, however, was highlighted by Ks: Kuroda, Kemp, and Kenley.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched six scoreless innings, ending his season in fine style. He allowed five hits, didn't walk anybody, and struck out five. Unfortunately, the Dodgers didn't score in the first six innings either, not that it was anything new for Kuroda, who had the Dodgers score one run or less for him nine different times this season.

Jarrod Parker, the ninth overall pick of the 2007 MLB draft, made his major league debut tonight, and matched zeroes with Kuroda. Parker retired the first seven batters he faced before Jamey Carroll got him for a single in the third inning. Parker ended up pitching into the sixth inning and didn't allow a run, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out one batter.

Parker made a splash at the plate too, delivering a double down the right field line in the fifth inning in his big league second plate appearance. However, Parker forgot how many outs there were so when Willie Bloomquist flied out to right field, Jerry Sands was able to easily double off Parker at second base to end the inning.

The Dodgers have 36 outfield assists on the season, tied with the Detroit Tigers for fifth most in baseball.

Kuroda was removed for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning, and the Dodgers eventually plated a run thanks to an RBI single by Dee Gordon. However, Gordon was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, a situation exacerbated by Gordon nearly sliding into left field, to end the inning.

Kuroda is the 38th Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher to throw 200 innings in a season. By reaching the milestone, Kuroda earned an additional bonus of $200,000.

Matt Guerrier was brought in for the second night in a row, to opened the seventh inning. It was the 70th appearance of the season for Guerrier, the fifth straight year he has pitched that many games, the longest active streak in baseball. However, activity doesn't equal achievement, and Guerrier was anything but effective on Tuesday. He faced two batters and didn't record an out, allowing a walk and a double to tie the score at 1-1, giving Kuroda just his third no-decision of the season.

Josh Lindblom pitched a scoreless ninth inning, and in his last six appearances, spanning 5 2/3 innings, has one walk and 12 strikeouts.

The Dodgers are 8-3 in extra innings this season.

Kenley The Great

Kenley Jansen pitched the eighth inning in a 1-1 tie, and continued to impress. He actually showed he is human, allowing a walk and a single, but thanks to that golden right arm the former catcher struck out three to get out of the inning. There are so many ridiculous numbers with Jansen right now it's hard to know where to begin.

• Jansen has a strikeouts-per-nine-innings ratio of 16.30, which is the best in major league history, beating the record of 15.99 set in 2010 by Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs
• Jansen has struck out 13 of the last 17 batters he has faced
• He has struck out 30 of the last 45 batters he has faced
  
• In his last 20 1/3 innings, Jansen has five walks and 44 strikeouts
• Jansen has recorded 34 of his last 42 outs (14 innings) via strikeout
• He has not allowed a run in 28 of his last 30 appearances
  

Triple Crown Watch

It's over. Matt Kemp doubled in the fourth inning, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, and had an RBI single in the 10th. However, Kemp hasn't gotten any help on the batting average front from the two league leaders.

Jose Reyes had three hits in six at-bats, including two home runs, on Tuesday, raising his batting average to .3358. Meanwhile Ryan Braun had a single in two at-bats and walked twice in Milwaukee, raising his average to .3345. Kemp is at .3244 and needs a miracle to win the batting title. Just to force a three-way tie at .333333, Kemp would need eight hits in eight at-bats in the season's final game, and have Reyes go 0-for-4 and Braun go 0-for-2 or 1-for-5.

Also, Braun wasn't the story Tuesday in Milwaukee, as Prince Fielder slugged three, count 'em, three home runs to pull even with Kemp atop the National League with 38 round trippers. Kemp, with 124 RBI, has four more than Fielder. In LA Dodger history, only Tommy Davis (153 in 1962) and Shawn Green (125 in 2001) have had more RBI in a season than Kemp.

Tomorrow

Ted Lilly starts the season finale for the Dodgers, facing Joe Saunders for Arizona. The Diamondbacks need a victory and a Milwaukee loss to clinch the second seed in the National League and home field advantage in the NLDS.

WP - Micah Owings (8-0): 1 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 1 walk, 1 strikeout

LP - Javy Guerra (2-2): 2 batters, 1 walk, 1 grand slam

Box Score

Matt Kemp took a big step closer to becoming the fifth member of the 40/40 club on Monday night, but his triple crown chances are fading fast. Kemp blasted a three-run home run in the first inning off Daniel Hudson, a shot to dead center, helping the Dodgers to a 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks and assuring the Dodgers of a winning record this season.

The home run was Kemp's 38th of the season, giving him the outright National League lead over Albert Pujols, and it extended Kemp's lead in RBI, but it was also Kemp's only hit in four at-bats on the night. Meanwhile, Jose Reyes was busy getting three hits in four at-bats against the Reds, and Ryan Braun didn't start but delivered a pinch-hit double, both widening their lead over The Bison in batting average.

Kemp is an even longer shot to win the batting title now. Even if he collects six hits in eight at-bats to end his season, Kemp would need both Reyes and Braun to go hitless in eight at-bats to pass them.

Dana Eveland continued his magic while wearing the road grays, as he retired the first 11 batters of the game before allowing a single to Chris Young with two outs in the fourth inning. He ended up pitching into the sixth inning, leaving with the bases loaded, two outs and a 3-0 lead. Josh Lindblom struck out Paul Goldschmidt to end the threat, and keep Eveland's record clean.

Eveland did not allow a run and didn't walk anyone either, all while striking out five. In three road starts this month, Eveland allowed a total of one run.

Hudson had a great run of his own, but thankfully for the Dodgers he waited until after Kemp delivered a 3-0 lead three batters into the game. After Kemp's home run, Hudson retired 15 straight, though he ran into some trouble in the seventh inning.

After a James Loney double and A.J. Ellis getting hit by a pitch one out later, the Dodgers tacked on an insurance run when Justin Sellers snapped a 7-for-67 skid with an RBI single. Tony Gwynn Jr. pinch hit in the inning, his first appearance since September 14 while dealing with a shoulder injury, but he lined into a double play to end the inning.

Jerry Sands extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an eighth-inning single.

Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless seventh inning, his 69th appearance of the season. If Guerrier pitches in one of the two final games of the season, he will have pitched in at least 70 games in each of the last five seasons, the longest active streak in the majors.

Nathan Eovaldi made things interesting with a trio of walks in the eighth inning, then Scott Elbert delivered another walk to Montero, the only man he faced, though not before a passed ball brought home the first run for Arizona. Mike MacDougal came in and struck out Goldschmidt, but then issued the fifth walk of the inning, to Geoff Blum, to cut the Dodgers' lead to 4-2. Recent foe Gerardo Parra had a chance to do some damage, but instead flew out to left field to end the inning.

Javy Guerra pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 21st save.

In the penultimate game of the season on Tuesday night, Hiroki Kuroda makes his final start of the season if not his Dodger career, facing Jarrod Parker, making his major league debut for Arizona.

WP - Dana Eveland (3-2): 5 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts

LP - Daniel Hudson (16-12): 7 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts

Sv - Javy Guerra (21): 1 IP

Box Score

Clayton Kershaw capped his magnificent 2011 campaign with another win against the San Diego Padres, as the Dodgers won the finale on Sunday at Petco Park, 6-2. Kershaw pitched into the eighth inning and allowed two runs, and all but clinched the National League pitching triple crown with today's win. Not a bad resume for National League Cy Young.

Kershaw's 21st victory tied Ian Kennedy of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won on Saturday against the Giants. The 21 wins for Kershaw are the most by a Dodger since Orel Hershiser went 23-8 in 1988.

Kershaw struck out six today, giving him 248 on the season, the most by a Dodger since Sandy Koufax struck out 317 in 1966. Justin Verlander leads the majors with 250 strikeouts. In the National League, Kershaw has a 16-strikeout lead on Cliff Lee, who starts for the Phillies on Monday in Atlanta.

Speaking of Lee, with the win today, Kershaw finished with an ERA of 2.28 on the season, tops in the majors. Lee, who has a 2.38 ERA, would need 10 2/3 scoreless innings to beat Kershaw. Roy Halladay pitched six scoreless innings on Sunday to lower his ERA to 2.35, but he won't pitch again this season.

In his final 15 starts of the season, Kershaw went 13-1 with a 1.22 ERA. As Vin Scully said in the ninth inning of Sunday's broadcast, "Clayton Kershaw's season is over, but his numbers linger on."

Kershaw was in danger of allowing a third run, which was on third base when he left the game in favor of Kenley Jansen in the bottom of the eighth inning. But Jansen continued his amazing run, striking out Will Venable and Cameron Maybin to end the threat. Jansen struck out all five Padres he faced in San Diego this weekend.

Jansen is averaging 16.10 strikeouts per nine innings per nine innings this season, which is a major league record.

Javy Guerra pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the win.

Other Triple Crown Update

In the first inning, Kemp doubled to score Jamey Carroll for his 120th RBI of the year. In the third inning, Kemp hit what looked like a routine fly ball to center, but it carried about 400 feet to the warning track in center for an out.

In the sixth inning, Kemp hit a little roller that went under the glove of third baseman Alberto Gonzalez. The play was originally scored an error, though the official scorer will watch a replay after the game to determine how far Kemp was down the line on the play, per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.

UPDATE: The official scorer did not change the call, per Tony Jackson of ESPN LA. The error stands, as does the 0-for-1 for Kemp in that at-bat.

Kemp struck out in the seventh inning against Luke Gregerson, then grounded to shortstop in the ninth inning off Andrew Carpenter. The 1-for-5 day for Kemp lowered his batting average to .324 on a day the two ahead of him raised theirs.

Ryan Braun had two hits in three at-bats on Sunday, including a home run, and Jose Reyes had two hits in four at-bats. Here are the updated triple crown stats:

WP - Clayton Kershaw (21-5): 7 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

LP - Cory Luebke (6-10): 6 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 4 walks, 6 strikeouts

Box Score

Aaron Harang continued his great pitching against the Dodgers this season, pitching eight scoreless innings to lead the Padres over the Dodgers 3-0 on Saturday night at Petco Park in San Diego. Harang entered tonight allowing one earned run on three hits in 12 innings against the Dodgers this season, and it was more of the same tonight, as the Dodgers managed just three hits and no walks against the right-hander in eight innings.

Matt Kemp singled in his first at-bat, but went hitless the rest of the game, including a double play against Heath Bell to end it in the ninth inning. Kemp did have a 400-foot flyout to center field in the sixth inning. Here is the updated look at the triple crown stats.

Both Jerry Sands (12 games) and Dee Gordon (11 games) extended their career-high hitting streaks on Saturday.

Clayton Kershaw looks to lock up the National League Cy Young Award in Sunday's series finale. Cory Luebke pitches for the Padres.

WP - Aaron Harang (14-7): 8 IP, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts

LP - Chad Billingsley (11-11): 5 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv - Heath Bell (42): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

Box Score

Matt Kemp continued his hot streak, hitting a towering home run to deep right center field on Friday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 in the opening game of a weekend series at Petco Park. Kemp's home run tied Albert Pujols for the National League lead in home runs, giving Kemp the lead in two of the three triple crown categories.

Ryan Braun hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eight inning in Milwaukee on Friday, breaking a tie and leading the Milwaukee Brewers to one of three division clinchers on Friday night. Jose Reyes was rained out, and the New York Mets will play a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

Ted Lilly continued his late-season groove, pitching into the seventh inning and striking out seven, all while allowing no runs. Since the beginning of August, Lilly has a 2.32 ERA in 10 starts with 20 unintentional walks and 59 strikeouts.

Eugenio Velez made history on Friday night, going 0-for-3 to tie Craig Counsell and Bill Bergen for longest stretch of futility by a position player, at 0 for his last 45. This season, Velez is hitless in 36 at-bats, which if the season ended today would be a record for most at-bats by a position player without a hit, passing Hal "0-for-35" Finney, a catcher for the 1936 Pittsburgh Pirates.

On the other end of the spectrum, both Jerry Sands and Dee Gordon extended their hitting streaks on Friday. Sands doubled in the second inning and scored the first run of the game, and now has an 11-game streak, with 19 hits in his 42 at-bats. Gordon has a 10-game hitting streak, with 17 hits in his last 41 at-bats.

Kenley Jansen faced three batters in the eighth inning, and struck them all out. Jansen has struck out nine of the last 12 batters he faced, and 25 of the last 38, too. He has six walks and 46 strikeouts in his last 22 innings pitched. Simply amazing. Jansen is averaging 15.95 strikeouts per nine innings this season, just shy of the record of 15.99, set by Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs last year.

Speaking of strikeouts, Wade LeBlanc got stuck with the loss despite pitching seven strong innings. LeBlanc became just the third pitcher since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958 to strikeout 10 or more Dodgers with no walks in a loss. Rick Reuschel, on August 19, 1973 while with the Chicago Cubs, and Curt Schilling, on July 26, 1997 while with the Philadelphia Phillies, are the others.

The Dodgers have won six of their last seven games and are 79-77 with five games left to play. Chad Billingsley makes his final start of the year on Saturday, facing Aaron Harang.

WP - Ted Lilly (11-14): 6 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP - Wade LeBlanc (4-6): 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 10 strikeouts

Sv - Javy Guerra (20): 1 IP, 1 strikeout

Box Score

Hiroki Kuroda threw seven-plus innings in an economical 92 pitches and scattered five hits, notching his 13th win in what may be the last start of his career in Dodger Stadium, as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 8-2. Kuroda's only blemishes were two solo home runs, to Carlos Beltran in the first inning and Pablo "Let THEM Eat Cake" Sandoval in the seventh.

Earlier today Matt Kemp tweeted to his followers:

Last home game of the year! Hope 2 c everybody out at the stadium 2nite. Let's end the season wit a bang!

Well, Kemp banged out three doubles in his first four at-bats and made a nice diving catch in center field as he continued his stretch run in his MVP candidacy. Then, like a well-crafted pyrotechnics show, he saved the biggest bang for last, capping off his evening by launching a towering, two-run, moon-shot home run to dead center field in the eight inning off mop-up man Barry Zito. Four-for-five, 1 HR (36 for the year), 3 doubles (31), 3 runs (109), 2 RBIs (118), raising his batting average to .326. That will get it done.

Matt Kemp is about to rocket this ball into orbit. (Photo by David Young)

After the game, Kemp said that it was a "memorable night" made "even more special with his mom sitting in the front row" while he feasted at the dish.

Kuroda departed after allowing a leadoff single in the eighth inning. Kenley Jansen entered and after walking pinch-hitter Pat Burrell, ended the inning with a strikeout, a harmless fly to center and a popout to end the threat. Scott Elbert pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the series win for the Dodgers over the Giants.

Juan Rivera gave the Dodgers a lead they would never relinquish when he blasted a two-run homer into the left-field pavilion following Kemp's two-out, first-inning double. Los Angeles also enjoyed a two-run inning in the fifth when three straight walks off two Giants' relievers forced in Kemp who had, what else, doubled to lead off the inning, and Jamey Carroll knocked in the other run with a fielder's choice grounder.

The Dodgers conclude their season with a six-game road trip to San Diego and Arizona.

Notes

• Kemps three doubles in one game tied a Dodgers record held by many, last matched by James Loney on June 15 last year.
• Jerry Sands now has a 10-game hitting streak, thanks to a single in the third inning.
• Dee Gordon walked twice for the first time in his career, and has walked four times in his last four games.

WP - Hiroki Kuroda (13-16): 7+ IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts

LP - Madison Bumgarner (12-13): 4 IP, 9 hits, 4 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv - None

Box Score

The Dodgers lost on Wednesday night, 8-5 to the Giants, but there was still excitement at Dodger Stadium, thanks to Matt Kemp. On the same night Kemp received the 2011 Roy Campanella Award, the National League MVP contender inspired the hell out of a pitch in the fifth inning off Ryan Vogelsong, a towering drive into the pavilion in left center field. The home run was the 35th of the season for Kemp, bringing him to within one of Albert Pujols for the National League lead, and punched Kemp's ticket into an exclusive club.

There have now been 19 seasons in major league history with at least 35 home runs and 35 stolen bases, and Kemp is the 14th player to accomplish the feat. The last was Alfonso Soriano, who also joined the 40/40 club in 2006 with 46 home runs and 41 steals for the Washington Nationals.

Kemp also singled in the ninth inning, raising his batting average to .3222 on the season. Jose Reyes of the New York Mets leads the National League with a .3301 batting average, just ahead of Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers at .3297. Kemp is third, his lowest rank in any triple crown category.

Kemp's three-run home run pushed his RBI total to an NL-leading 116, which is the sixth most in one season by a Dodger since they moved to Los angeles in 1958.

Dana Eveland wasn't very effective tonight, allowing five runs in four innings, the shortest of his four starts as a Dodger. But his ledger is even at two good games and two bad ones, which is about as good as you can expect for a fill-in on the staff.

Though the Dodgers were down 5-0 early, it actually could have been much worse. The Giants grounded into three double plays in the first three innings, including two by Jeff Keppinger. The Giants ran into a fourth double play in the fifth inning as Brett Pill was caught stealing second base on a strikeout pitch to Brandon Belt.

After Kemp's home run cut the deficit to one, the Giants tacked on one run in the sixth inning and two more in the top of the seventh.

Notes

• James Loney had three more singles, giving him 13 hits in his last 20 at-bats, including three doubles and two home runs.
• Jerry Sands singled in the eighth inning, extending his hitting streak to nine games, and has 17 hits in his last 34 at-bats
• Dee Gordon had two singles, a stolen base, and scored a run, extending his hitting streak to eight games. During the streak, he has 14 hits in 34 at-bats, hitting .412/.444/.500.
• Eugenio Velez made a pinch hit appearance in the bottom of the fifth inning, and he did not make an out! Velez was hit by a pitch, which put him on first while preserving his concurrent streaks of 0 for 33 (this season) and 0 for 42 (dating back to 2010).
• Carlos Beltran left the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a contusion in his right foot.
• Hiroki Kuroda starts the final home game of the season on Thursday night, facing Madison Bumgarner for San Francisco.

WP - Ryan Vogelsong (12-7): 5 IP, 9 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

LP - Dana Eveland (2-2): 4 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv - Brian Wilson (36): 1/3 IP, 1 hit

Box Score