Russellin' up a win

Russell Martin, en fuego with the wood of late, has been the Dodgers' best position player since his 2006 call up, the kind of player a team will occasionally look towards to help end a downward spiral.  During last night's 9-5 win over the Mets, the Canadian not only lived up to that billing, but he helped bail out a fellow youngster/future Blue cornerstone in the process.  Martin's 4-4 night at the dish, complete with a long ball and three ribbies, helped provide enough bullets to offset his outgunned pitcher. 

Clayton Kershaw was hoping to follow up his thrilling Ravine debut with some equally thrilling pitches.  Unfortunately, the excited parties in audience were all Mets fans, as NY batsmen feasted on his offerings for 3.2 frames.  Even spotted a rare opening trio of runs by his teammates, Kershaw found himself unable to keep his team ahead, relying too often on a fastball reigned in by the Mets. But when uber-hyped youth couldn't prevail, the elderly (relatively speaking) found a way.  Chan Ho Park took the rookie's place on the hill and continued his season's resurgence, limiting the Mets to just one score over 3.1 innings.  With a Dodger victory still feasible, Martin (along with Matt Kemp, Jeff Kent, Blake DeWitt and James Loney) took turns beating up the Mets pen.   In particular, Aaron Heilman is unlikely to email all his buddies a copy of this  here box score.