If an expansion of the Moet budget means a contraction of the Manny budget...

The Good:

• Hiroki Kuroda: He had found a groove over the last two months of the season, allowing more than three runs twice in his final eleven starts.  He had dominated the Cubs in two regular season outings.  Still, if there was a Dodger starter in their top three that tended to give fans the willies, it was Kuroda.  Lingering memories of the guy who would seemed to blow up faster than a Spinal Tap drummer are hard to lose.  But Saturday, Kuroda was nails, and only got better as the game went along.  He pitched his way out of a couple threats early- two on, two out in the first, two on, two out in the third- but overall prevented damage by consistently getting ahead of hitters and keeping men off base early in innings.  Of the seven hitters Chicago sent to the plate to start a frame, only Geovany Soto, who led off the fourth with a double, managed to reach base.  As the old saying goes, it's a whole lot easier to pitch out of trouble with two outs.  (Surely your grandmother had that needlepointed on a pillow somewhere in the house.)

After the Soto double, Kuroda was particularly strong, retiring the next ten batters he actually pitched to (there was an intentional walk to Ryan Theriot tossed in there), and of the two hits he allowed in the seventh before exiting, only one was hit hard.   

• James Loney: Only one hit, but like his instant classic grand slam in Game 1, Loney made it count with a clutch, two out, two run, first inning double into the right field corner to score Russell Martin and Manny Ramirez.  The Dodgers were up two, the crowd was fired up, and the fast sinking Good Ship Little Bear was taking on even more water, having squandered an opportunity of their own in the top half of the frame. 
• Russell Martin: Guess the rest before the playoffs helped.  Martin had his hands in everything LA did Saturday night.  He greeted Harden with a double past third in the first before he scored on the Loney double, then chased the righty in the fifth with another rip into the left field corner to score Rafael Furcal. 
• Corey Wade: He entered in the eighth with two men on and one out.  No worries.  The first guy he saw was Alfonso Soriano, and Wade got him to fly out to Andre Ethier in right.  After a wild pitch bumped both runners up a sack, Wade retired Mike Fontenot on a line drive to center.  End of threat.  In the eighth, Wade allowed a run on a Derrick Lee double and a two out, bloop single from pinch hitter Daryl Ward, but that's okay.  By escaping the jam an inning earlier, he kept Chicago at arms length, and pushed the Dodgers deeper into the game.  If there's a list of unsung heroes for the Blue in this NLDS, Wade would have to be near the top. 
• Jonathan Broxton: After Wade allowed the Ward single, Broxton ambled in (as only he can amble) to face Mark DeRosa, representing the tying run.  Representing being the key word, since DeRosa did nothing of the sort.  Broxton bookended the AB with wicked off speed offerings, striking out DeRosa and ending the threat.  In the ninth he struck out Ryan Theriot on three pitches, got Kosuke Fukodome to hop weakly to Furcal, then slammed the door on Chicago with his second three pitch K of the inning, with Alfonso Soriano serving as victim #2. Game, set, see you Chicago.
• Leather:  Dodger leather, specifically.   There weren't a lot of spectacular plays to be made- Kemp made everyone's heart skip a when he got a bad jump on the Fontenot drive to center in the sixth before recovering and ending the inning- but that's not the point.  Tonight, as they did throughout the series, the Dodgers made every routine play.  They didn't give the Cubs any easy chances or extra outs, and that, in no small part, is why the Blue made all of Chicago cry. 
• Will Carroll: The sage of Baseball Prospectus declared on Wednesday's Purple, Gold, and Blue Podcast that the Dodgers would sweep.  (I, of course, agreed with him, having made the exact same prediction myself*.)  Day-um, that man is a genius.  There's still time to drop him an email before making your picks for Sunday's NFL games.   

The Bad:

• Seriously? Three straight over, at least before Wednesday night, the best team in the National League? The first playoff series win since 227 ruled Saturday nights (and Max Headroom struggled mightily on Fridays)? Yes, this will be the third straight game we've left this category blank, but we're not lazy- well, we are lazy, but that's not the point- we're just not hypercritical jerk faces. 

Quote of the Night:

• Derek Lowe, making an outstanding recommendation to the dude in the clubhouse handing out beers: "Next time, can you make them screw tops?"  From a practical standpoint, he's right.  It would be a lot more efficient. 

Because we own our recorders (and, as we're like, totally from the future, we actually use iPods with mic attachments!), not the Times, we couldn't bring our gear into the Champagne Room (get your mind out of the gutter) without ensuring a trip to the Apple store before the NLCS.  Thus, no audio.  But we'll have plenty on the game tomorrow. 

BK

*You may have read or heard me say "Cubs in five," but that's just you being too literal.  Read between the lines, folks.