The Dodgers were able to accomplish something that proved quite elusive to them for the past three plus years: beat Jake Peavy. James Loney's two-out bases loaded single in the first provided all the scoring the club would need. Loney ended up with three singles on the day.
Hiroki Kuroda was solid, giving the club 5.2 innings before tiring with two outs in the 6th. Kuroda retired 11 in a row before loading the bases all with two outs. Cory Wade came in and induced a Beimel -- a comeback groudout to the pitcher -- to preserve a 3-1 lead. Wade, as he did for almost all of 2008, provided solid relief for four outs.
Matt Kemp provided some Bison Insurance in the top of the 7th with a booming homer off Jake Peavy, the final run Peavy would allow. The Sons of Steve Garvey give us a nice glimpse of Matt Kemp's all-around good day.
Casey Blake did not homer, so the LA Dodgers still haven't had a starting 8th place hitter smack a home run on opening day. Maybe next year Ivan DeJesus can!
After a somewhat wild 8th inning by Hong-Chih Kuo (2 walks), Jonathan Broxton pitched a smooth, 11-pitch ninth for his first save of the year, blowing away two of the three hitters he faced.
Randy Wolf and Tall Chris Young start on the mound tomorrow night at 7:05pm, as we return to the relative normalcy of standard schedule times (although I probably shouldn't mention the Thursday start time just yet).
Thanks to everyone who participated in today's game thread. We had well over 400 comments, by far a record for a single thread since I joined the fray here. We're glad to have you.