Ugly game, but a win's a win. Everything except the 3rd was pretty sad, lots of blown chances for both sides.

Kershaw/Hamels tomorrow, should be a good one.

How do we drop two to SF and then beat the Phillies? How do you drop two to SF?

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!

Check out betting exchanges on the internet. You can usually find some dudes willing to bet.

On the other side, while I still think that the Dodgers are the far better team than the Diamondbacks, I am a bit surprised that the DBs manage to pull off such a trade after the deadline. In a way this spoils my analysis since I put my money on the fact that the Dodgers improved their roster big time while the DBs did nothing, despite having some important players on the DL.

In any case, for me the Dodgers are the clear favorites to win the division. The only thing that makes me wonder is why they haven't been in first place for months in a division where a .501 record should be sufficient. I mean their main rival is basically a .500 team also.

Brad Penny
Batting Practice

no coincidence. also WTF at that called 3rd strike on matt kemp. very glad he kept his cool, that was pretty bad.

Grrr..

I slept through the game, wake up, try to squint and get to multimedia page to watch the archived game on mlb.tv, but Nomar's fist pumping is first page oh well, I'll watch the condensed game instead.

FIRST PLACE BABY!

Holy **** Penny, wtf happened here?

Johnson did pretty well, WTF BEIMEL, K by Park.. interesting inning there.

Kent seems to be hitting really well in front of Manny.


Condensed games are pretty cool when there's no drama to be had.

Penny just kept throwing the ball right over the plate at like 88mph.

I feel bad that you missed this one live. beimel very lucky to get out with no earned runs, manny continuing the sickest streak ever, kent a huge clutch hit, and nomar after taking a meatball somehow pulls a homer on an outside pitch. so sweet.

Okay if I'm Charlie Manuel I am walking Blake there every time to get to Sweeney.

Casey Blake ain't clutch! There is no clutch hitting in baseball, right?

..and I'd pretty much walk anyone to get to Sweeney. Kinda like the Brushback article on Jones:

Pitcher Intentionally Walks First 8 Batters To Get To Andruw Jones

LOS ANGELES--Giants starter Kevin Correia intentionally walked the first eight batters in a game against the Dodgers last night in order to get to Andruw Jones, who was batting ninth. Jones, who is struggling this season to the tune of a .169 batting average, struck out on three pitches, leaving the bases loaded.
Despite walking in five runs, Correia said he had no regrets about his decision.
“If I had to do it all over again I would probably do the same thing,” he said. “I know it sucks to have to walk in all those runs but it all pays off when Andruw steps into the batter’s box. And he didn’t disappoint. Three pitches, three strikes. It’s just too bad they pulled him out of the game because I was hoping to face him 27 times.”
After the game, Joe Torre insisted that the 8 intentional walks were “a testament to the power of the rest of the lineup.”

The highlight for me was Nomar busting out the defense. Hope he keeps it up.

Can we take 2 off the Brewers? I mean we miss Sabathia and Sheets, but they're like 8-1 in the last 9 games (lost to SD yesterday to break a 8 game win streak). Plus Ryan Braun is very scuuuuuuuury

Billingsley on the mound and no Ryan Braun feeling pretty good (Doh Gabe Kapler)

Kemp with a chance to blow it open here...

am i dumb to think that kent should have tagged cameron there? also ethier's homerun pitch was so low.