Kuroda gets by with a little help from his friends

Brewers  0  6  0
Dodgers  3  8  0
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LP-Wolf-3-4
SV-Guerrier-1
HR-Kemp-8
TOOTBLAN-Miles

Hiroki Kuroda has been outstanding since joining the dodgers in 2008

The Dodgers beat the brewers tonight 3-0, behind a terrific start by Hiroki Kuroda, and a little help from his friends,-Kemp-Jansen,-Guerrier, as the Dodgers split the two game series, in the brewers only trip to LA this year.

old friend, and former Dodgers Randy Wolf, countered Kuroda today. Wolf was 1-1 against the Dodgers coming into tonight, while Kuroda was 2-0, but with a high ERA against Milwaukee (6.28), although when Kuroda's splitter is working hes tough to beat.
unsung hero, Japanese righty Kuroda, has been outstanding in his career with the Dodgers and rarly gets any credit. tonight he showed his amazing tenacity on the mound.

he had to pitch out of jams early on in the night. in the first, with 1 out, Hart singles, followed by a Braun walk. fielder grounds weakly to miles, but he cant turn two, only getting the out at second, as the lumbering fielder beats out the throw. hart advances to third.
Mcgehee hits a long fly to deep center, what looked like maybe a home run or an extra base hit, is turned into a long out. Kemp, did his best Carlos Gomez impression,(remember gomez robbed uribe of a home run last night) Bison jumping against the wall, with his glove outstretched robs Mcgehee of a homerun. tit for tat milwaukee!

the dodgers would score in the bottom of the first. with 2 outs, ethier walks, and Bison homers to right his eighth of the year to lead the team. love that bison....

with the score 2-0 Dodgers, Kuroda pissed about his poor pitch placement in the first, battles back for a 123 second inning, striking out Lucroy, and Gomez.

the brewers threaten in the third. wolfman who was always a good hitting pitcher, (hes hit homeruns), doubles over ethier's head. weeks sacrifices wolfman  to third with 1 out. after a walk to Hart, Kuroda once again battles back. Braun strikes out, and fielder flies out to left.

the brewers put men on base again in the fourth. with 1 out, conescutive singles from Betancourt and Lucroy, put runners at first and second.  but Kuroda is intensly focused on the mound. getting Gomez to ground into a beautiful 6-4-3 double play. still 2-0 dodgers.

in the bottom of the fourth, the Dodgers load the bases off of a laboring wolfman, but fail to score. so basically nothing surpising. uribe walks, Big rod flies out. Loney pops out. Sands walks, and Kuroda hits a little dribbler to short, that betancourt cant field in time. bases loaded. wolfman gets carroll to ground into a force out.

move along to the bottom of the 6th with the Dodgers ahead 2-0 and Kuroda breezing, wolfman is relieved with 1 out. Sergio Mitre replaces Wolf. the wolfman goes 5.1 allowing 2 runs off 5 hits walking four striking out two.

Kuroda gets a 123 inning in the top of the 7th.

with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th, Miles ropes a hit down the left field line, but is thrown out trying to go from first to second. TOOTBLAN.

with the dodgers still up 2-0, we move to the top of the 8th. Kuroda still pitching. weeks hits a grounder to third, that uribe fields nicly, but he falls down and weeks is safe at first. a balk is called on Kuroda, sending weeks to second. this was the first balk of kuroda's career. Corey Hart hits a long fly ball to center, but kuroda gets a little help from his friends, Kemp, who makes another fantastic catch jumping up against the wall again in center. phew! after a honeycutt coaching visit to the mound. Kuroda gets creepy eyed Ryan Braun, to fly out to ethier. with 2 outs, Mattingly takes out Kuroda, and brings in Jansen. another brilliant pitching performence from Kuroda, as he goes 7.2 shutout innings, allowing only 6 hits, walking two and striking out 7.

Jansen kind of pitches around Fielder, walking him. he then goes to 3-2 to Mcgehee but gets him to foul out to Loney.

Mike Mclendon replaces Mitre in the bottom of the 8th, for the brewers, and the Dodgers get a much needed insurance run. Uribe singles. big rod fouls out. Loney flies out. with 2 outs, sandman doubles to right field, scoring uribe. 3-0 dodgers. gibbons flies out to end the inning.

Matt Guerrier is brought into pitch the 9th with the Dodgers now up 3-0. while giving Padilla a night off, he also normally gives us all anger, game blowing induced heartburn. however guerrier tonight was fine.

pinch hitter Kotsay laces one to left field, but thank the lordy Tony Gwynn was in left field to make a nice catch.
Lucroy strikes out, and Boggs is called out on strikes to end the game. the Dodgers and Kuroda get a win, Guerrier a save, and the Dodgers get a split of this short two game series. Dodgers win 3-0!
Kuroda is now 5-3 with a 2.80 ERA
tomorrow night the giants come into town for a two game series, Matt Cain, will counter Clayton kershaw, on PT. go blue!