After 4 hours, the Dodgers finally beat the Giants 10-7.  There was a huge difference between today and yesterday for the Dodgers.  Yesterday the pitching stunk, the hitting stunk, and the fielding stunk.  Today, just the pitching and fielding stunk.  Thank you Manny Ramirez for the 2 home runs and 5 RBIs.  Right now Manny has an outside chance to end the season leading the team in home runs, which is down right embarrassing considering he’ll only have about 200 at-bats.  Time for Russell Martin, Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Matt Kemp to step it up a little in the HR column.

Takashi Saito looked alright in one inning pitched, although his location still needs work.  His appearances continue to be encouraging, especially considering Hong-Chih Kuo’s nagging tricep stiffness.

A certain unnamed second baseman was activated from the DL as a potential pinch hitter.  Ho hum.

It looks like Brad Penny is done for the season.  Hopefully Ned Colletti avoids another Andruw Jones moment, and buys out Penny’s option for next year.  The last thing we need next year is company for Jason Schmidt in the minors with a $9 million price tag.

The Dodgers’ magic number is down to 5.  They have 7 games left, and Arizona has 8.  I’ve been saying this ever since I saw the schedule, the Dodgers MUST clinch before they go into San Francisco for the last 3 games of the season.  The hated, despised, and despicable Giants have an inhuman ability to spoil a pennant run for the Dodgers, so let’s just avoid that all together.

I’m currently on my  4th day of Rafael Furcal watch, and still nothing.  Apparently he has some lingering nerve pain as a possible side effect from his back surgery earlier in the year.  I’ve got my fingers crossed.