Dodgers Take Series vs Giants with 7-5 Win

The Dodgers can only hope they continue to play teams who are as poor defensively as the Giants. Aubrey Huff misplayed 2 balls into RBI triples and the Dodgers came up with some much needed key hits to outscore the Giants 7-5. Matt Kemp hit the Dodgers first HR of the season a 2 run shot in the first inning to give LA a 3-0 lead.

The Giants would eventually tie the game at 3, in the 7th inning, when Pat Burrell hit his 2nd homer of the series. The lead would be short-lived, as the Dodgers put up a 4 spot in the bottom of the 7th. Again it was Huff who spun 3 different times trying to get a bead on a hard hit ball by Marcus Thames that wound up being a triple, and scored James Loney who led off the inning with a single. Aaron Miles added an RBI single of his own to score Tony Gwynn, Furcal doubled to score Miles and Ethier singled in Furcal.

The result was a 7-3 Dodgers lead and with Hong-Chih Kuo entering the game it seemed the Dodgers would cruise to a W. However, Kuo struggled giving up a double and a walk, and in came $12 million dollar man Matt Guerrier who issued back to back walks to make the score 7-4. Fortunately, Miguel Tejada swung at and popped up the first pitch he saw, a ball near his ankles, after Guerrier had waled the previous 2 batters, and the Dodgers escaped the jam. Thanks Miggy.

Jonathan Broxton once again had an interesting 9th inning. He gave up a lead off homer to Aaron Rowand to make it 7-5, a Freddy Sanchez single one out later brought the tying runner to the plate. Brox was able to get both Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey to ground out and the Dodgers took 3 of 4 from the Giants.

The Dodgers bounced back from yesterday’s 10-0 beating and improved to 3-1 on the young season. They have the day off tomorrow before playing Tuesday and Wednesday in Colorado. Lasorda’s Lair will once again collaborate with the Rockies bloggers Rox Pile to provide our readers with an in-depth preview of the short 2 game series. You gotta love the schedule makers sending the Dodgers to snowy Colorado in early April rather than having the series in L.A., makes complete sense.