PLAYOFFS! Dodgers Clinch October Berth

It was a shaky game.  The lead teetered back and forth between the Pirates and the Dodgers.  The bullpen looked stagnant.  The offense looked stiff.  But in the end, the Dodgers won 8-4, and with their victory, the Dodgers have sealed a postseason spot.  The October-bound Dodgers opened with three hits in the first inning, capped by Manny Ramirez’s double to score Juan Pierre from third.  After scoring two more runs in the fourth, LA looked like it had a comfortable win.  Randy Wolf was solid; his only mistake in six-plus innings of work was a home run to former Dodger Andy LaRoche.

It was the bottom of the seventh though that provided most of the tension.  After giving up a walk and getting an out, Randy Wolf was pulled for Hong-Chih Kuo.  Kuo got a line-out for the second out, but could not manage the third: the lefty walked Delwyn Young and gave up a single to Luis Cruz that scored a run.  With the lead cut to a single run, Joe Torre turned to George Sherrill to get the final out.  However, the former closer struggled just as much as his predecessor.  Sherrill issued a walk to load the bases, and Andrew McCutchen singled to plate two, giving the Pirates the lead.

The eighth inning started with a walk.  Manny worked a base-on-balls to begin the inning, and the trouble began there.  After Matt Kemp struck out, the next five batters would all reach base: Ronnie Belliard singled, James Loney walked to clog the bases, Andre Ethier walked to push a run home, Orlando Hudson walked as well to drive in the go-ahead run, and Jim Thome smacked a pinch-hit single to score two, his first RBI’s in a Dodger uniform.  Belliard added a solo-homer in the eighth for good measure, and Jonathan Broxton’s perfect ninth completed the clincher.

It is the Dodgers’ third trip to the postseason in the last four years; fourth in the last six.  Only St. Louis has reached the playoffs that many times during that span in the National League….The magic number to clinch the division is three: any combination of Dodger wins and Colorado losses that totals three gives Los Angeles the division crown.

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