Dodgers 5, Mets 4: Of course that happened

At this point it doesn't seem to matter how much the Dodgers fall behind, as they seemingly always find a way to come back. Andre Ethier hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, then Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez hit back-to-back doubles in the 12th inning to give the Dodgers another thrilling win, 5-4 over the Mets to complete a three-game sweep.

The Dodgers have won eight straight games, including all six on the homestand, their first homestand sweep since April 2012. The Dodgers are 23-3 since the All-Star break and 40-8 since June 22, the first MLB team to win 40 out of 48 games since the 1942 Cardinals, who went 41-7.

That team featured a 21-year-old rookie named Stan Musial. This Dodgers team had several players audition for the role of The Man on Wednesday night.

• Ethier, out of the lineup a second straight day with left calf tightness, pinch hit in the ninth inning against LaTroy Hawkins and homered to the opposite field to erase a two-run deficit and tie the game at 4-4.
• Some losses qualify as a gut punch, but this one might have been a groin punch for the Mets, as Jerry Hairston preceded Ethier with a ground ball that hit Hawkins in the groin. After a few warm-up pitches Hawkins stayed in, but was he adversely affected enough to allw the home run to Ethier?
• Carlos Marmol struck out three in two scoreless innings, keeping the Mets down in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings. Marmol also batted for himself in the 10th and flew out to left field, a ball that was seen by thousands of hearts as a near home run, even if it wasn't really close.
• Chris Withrow also pitched two scoreless frames, part of a stellar bullpen effort that included nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings.
• Gonzalez, who had his RBI streak stopped at seven games on Tuesday night, delivered the winning run with a line drive down the left field line to score Puig. Gonzalez was 3-for-6 on the night.
• That Puig was even on second base was a story in itself. Puig already put his stamp on the game with a laser throw in the second inning to nail Marlon Byrd at third base, then in the 12th he grounded a ball just past shortstop Omar Quintanilla into short center field. Puig never stopped running and made it into second base, putting himself in scoring position for Gonzalez. Without looking it up, Puig had the best 1-for-6 game by a Dodger this season.
• Hanley Ramirez welcomed himself back to the lineup nicely, as he was 2-for-5 with an RBI in his first start in 10 days.
• Paco Rodriguez finished the aforementioned bullpen brilliance, recording the final four outs for his third win of the season.

The Dodgers have won 12 straight one-run games, a franchise record, and remained 7½ games up in the National League West.

Marlon Byrd had three hits, including a three-run home run in the third inning, and just about the only thing he had trouble with on Wednesday was reaching third base. After singling in the second inning, he tried to advance to third base on a single by Justin Turner, only to be thrown out by a laser beam from Yasiel Puig in right field.

But the Mets weren't done against Chris Capuano. Andrew Brown - no, not the one traded for Milton Bradley twice - hit one past Puig later in the second inning to score Turner for a quick 1-0 lead.

Dillon Gee held the Dodgers scoreless through five innings, but they got to him in the sixth. A double by Ramirez, in his first game back in the lineup in 10 days, followed a single by Adrian Gonzalez, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out. A ground out by Mark Ellis and a single by Hairston brought home two runs, but Tim Federowicz struck out to end the frame.

Capuano snapped his streak of allowing either zero runs or five earned runs at nine starts, and he settled Friday night for allowing four runs on 10 hits in five innings, with two walks and three strikeouts. Capuano's alternate for the fifth starter role Stephen Fife, pitching in relief for Triple-A Albuquerque temporarily to keep him ready to come up for a spot start at a moment's notice if needed, allowed two runs on three hits in two innings for the Isotopes on Wednesday night, with one walk and no strikeouts.

The Dodgers won all six games of their homestand, including games their trailed 6-0, 2-0, 1-0 and 4-0.

Up next

The Dodgers have Thursday off, but open a three-game series in Philadelphia on Friday night. Zack Greinke gets the start in the opener, with southpaw Cliff Lee starting for the Phillies. Whether the Dodgers bullpen will have Brian Wilson remains to be seen.

Wednesday particulars

Home run: Andre Ethier (8), Marlon Byrd (18)

WP - Paco Rodriguez (3-2): 1⅓ IP, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts

LP - Pedro Feliciano (0-1): ⅓ IP, 2 hits, 1 run