By the end of the fifth inning the Dodgers had a 12 - 1 lead and even Vinny said the jello was jiggling, so the only real drama left for the night was whether Manny was going down the Jayson Werth/J.D. Drew route or simply a drama queen taking the night off after being nailed in the left hand by a Homer Baily pitch to lead off the 3rd inning.
As the Dodgers poured it on the sad sack Reds most Dodger fans were uninterested in the score but in the x-rays. Given our recent history with Werth and Drew anytime a Dodger gets plunked on the wrist or hand, we immediately fear for the worse. However this was not 2005 but 2009, so when Manny's x-rays came back negative, Dodger fans let out a collective sigh of relief and settled down to enjoy the laugher. To bad for tomorrow nights crowd as Manny is listed Day to Day and will probably miss his bobblehead night, which is a bummer for the sold out crowd tomorrow night.
Randy Wolf had 12 no-decisions when he took the mound tonight but by the end of the 3rd inning he had this win in his hip pocket if he could only finish the required five innings. He did more then that cruising through the weak Red lineup giving up only four hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings. Claudio Vargas finished up but not before giving up a monstrous home run to the most under appreciated player in baseball, Joey Votto.
Homer Bailey really has a bad first name for a baseball pitcher and while Matt Kemp was the only Dodger to make his first name a punch line the rest of the lineup did plenty of damage without going yard. Only six of the nine runs Bailey gave up were earned but his final line was still horrific with 8 hits, six earned runs (9 total), two walks, no K's, one hit batter, and two wild pitches. All in 2 2/3 innings. Dusty just left him out there for whatever reason. Maybe to build his confidence, no telling how the toothpick man mind's works.
Just about everybody did some damage tonight.
Furcal - Home run, three hits, four runs batted in
Kemp - Home run, two walks
Loney - Three hits, three runs scored, two runs batted in
Wolf - two hits including an almost home run
Manny - only one at bat but he made the most of it with a triple down the left field line that the left fielder played like a hot potato.
Andre - only had a double but he almost drove his line drive through the wall in right field
With the Giants and Rockies losing tonight the lead is now NINE games over the Rockies and 9 1/2 over the Giants.
Reds vs Dodgers coverage
Reds vs Dodgers boxscore
Tonights Tidbits:
Best record in baseball at 60 - 34, 3.5 games better then the Yankees.
Best start since 1974 when they were 62 - 32 on July 18th
Cincinnati has not won in Dodger Stadium since 7/28/05
Matt Kemp has now homered in three times in the last eight games, with 14 RBI's in 14 games.