Seven good, one bad

The Good:

• Derek Lowe: Playing in a park the size of a shoebox in a high pressure game before hostile fans against a team capable of piling up runs like Wall-E does trash, Lowe reached the fifth with a shutout, and by all rights should have left having surrendered two runs (see below).  Two runs on two awful pitches, for sure, but two runs nonetheless.  Overall, he was strong. 
• Blake DeWitt: His sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Matt Kemp, who led off the inning with a double and advanced to third after a great AB from Casey Blake. After falling behind 0-2 to Hamels, he fouled off two pitches and laid off two more before grounding to short and giving DeWitt the chance to bring Kemp home.  But DeWitt's major contributions tonight came with the leather.  He made a great play on Ryan Howard in the first, ranging deep to his right to field the monstrous 1B's smash and get the out.  He would later barehand a tricky ball wide of first on another Howard grounder and make a nice flip to Loney for the out, and end the seventh with another gem, swallowing up a Jimmy Rollins grounder, and with Carlos Ruiz bearing down hard on him still managed to step on second and turn the DP.  Excellent leather work from the future mayor of Sikeston, MO. 
• Manny Ramirez: His first inning rocket to the deepest part of center scored Andre Ethier- who himself had doubled with a nifty opposite field shot one batter before- and put the Dodgers up 1-0.  With a little better aim, that's a homer and the Blue are up two (bad aim while hitting, for what it's worth, is not a dockable offense at Blue Notes).  In the fifth, he ripped a single up the middle, and almost had a double in the eighth, but his liner was interrupted on its way to the left field corner by third baseman Pedro Feliz's glove. He even contributed with the leather, cutting off a Pat Burrell shot headed for the corner in left and holding him to a single.  Who knew?
• The Pen: I was as surprised as anyone when Greg Maddux came in to pitch the seventh, but he got the job done, as did Chan Ho Park in the sixth and Hong-Chih Kuo in the eighth.  Seeing Kuo pitch a comfortable inning had to make Torre and Co. smile.  Assuming he comes out in one piece (in the clubhouse after the game, the dude was like an Ace Bandage Michelin Man), it's a performance he can build on, one that may pay big dividends by the time the series is over. 

The Bad:

• The Sixth: When in doubt, trust the wisdom of "Bull Durham" "This is a very simple game.  You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball..."  Well, in their half of the sixth, the Phillies did a lot of the latter, and the Dodgers didn't do enough of the first two.  Shane Victorino led off with a grounder to Rafael Furcal, who threw wide to James Loney at first, pulling him off the bag.  Loney compounded the error (figuratively and literally) by taking his eye off the ball in an effort to see if he could get back to the bag and get the speedy Hawaiian.  Given that "Flyin'" is part of the dude's nickname, he probably should have just caught it and conceded the base.  Victorino advanced to second as the ball bounced out of Loney's glove and rolled away.  In the end, Loney's end of the miscue didn't matter, as Chase Utley launched Lowe's next pitch- a sinker that didn't- into the seats in right to tie things at two.  After Ryan Howard grounded to first, Burrell ripped another hanging sinker from Lowe over the all in left.  3-2 Philadelphia, curtain down on Lowe. 

The two pitches Philadelphia sent into orbit were pretty bad, no question.  But at worst, the Dodgers should have finished the inning tied.  Against the Cubs, LA was Scrubbing Bubbles clean, never making mistakes that gave Chicago extra chances.  Tonight, they put a runner on and were burned. 

The Close, but No Cigar:

• Fundamentals: Save one play (again, see below... there's a lot below), the Blue were outstanding on that end.  Offensively, they brought Kemp home in textbook fashion after his leadoff double.  A great AB from Blake to move him over, and a sac fly from DeWitt to plate him.  The defense was otherwise outstanding.  The Blakes were particularly sharp, and Loney made a great play on a So Taguchi bunt attempt in the seventh, charging hard to make a sliding catch.  In the Chicago series, the Dodgers didn't give the Cubs any openings, forcing them to earn whatever they could muster, which wasn't much as it turned out.  Tonight, they didn't exactly pave Philadelphia's road to victory with gold and rose petals, but the Dodgers did give them a crack and the Phillies busted through. 

The Big Question:

• Should Torre Have Lifted Lowe After Utley's Homer?  It'll be the one asked in all the papers and  tossed about the Internet like a nipple slip.  If you judge it by the result, the answer is obviously yes.  All it takes is a replay of the Burrell homer to drive the point home.  But, of course, managers aren't privy to the outcome of an AB before it happens, and on this one, I think Torre's decision was fine.  After Utley's bomb, Lowe retired Howard on four pitches.  When it was over, Lowe said simply that once he ran the count to 3-1 on Burrell, knowing that walks can hurt at Citizen's Bank Park, he made a horrible pitch.  Not a tired pitch, a bad one.  While you wouldn't expect him to throw Torre under the bus ("Of course I should have been lifted!  I was panting like a St. Bernard in August.  What was the old man thinking?"), I believed him.  Of course, my wife will tell you I'm a particularly trusting person- I stand by those magic beans I bought in Chinatown last week, Honey- but hey, it's my opinion. 

The View for Blue Notes:

Auxiliary press box down the left field line.  Not a bad spot, actually. 

Plenty more on the game tomorrow.  Remember, live blog starting a half hour before the first pitch, which means you'll need to take a very long lunch. 

BK