| Scoreboard | ||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Philadelphia (46-46) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| L.A. Dodgers (53-40) « | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | x | 10 | 10 | 1 |
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers gave Brad Penny more run support than he needed as they piled it on against 44-year-old Jamie Moyer.
Jeff Kent and Matt Kemp hit three-run homers and the Dodgers routed the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3 on Monday night for their season-high fifth consecutive victory. Los Angeles maintained its one-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.
"We've been swinging the bats pretty well, so I knew we were going to score some runs," Kemp said. "But I didn't know we were going to break out like that."
Penny (11-1) became the first Dodgers pitcher to begin a season 11-1 since Doug Rau in 1977. The right-hander, coming off his second consecutive appearance in the All-Star Game, allowed a run and four hits over seven innings against an offense that came in leading the National League in runs, on-base percentage and extra-base hits.
"They definitely have some guys who can swing the bats," catcher Russell Martin said. "Most hitters feast on mistakes. But when you've got a pitcher that's really not making many mistakes, it doesn't matter who's hitting. It's going to be hard for them to produce some runs."
Penny won his sixth decision in a row over a span of 10 starts and lowered his ERA to 2.33 while striking out eight and walking three. He also tied Philadelphia's Cole Hamels and Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs for the NL lead in wins.
"When a team is hot like we are, it makes it easier to pitch," said Penny, who worked up a blister on his middle finger in his previous start. "I was a bit uncomfortable at first because I hadn't pitched in a while, but the last three or four innings I started hitting my spots."
Moyer (7-8) lost his third consecutive start, giving up 10 runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA jumped from 4.43 to 4.92.
"I've made over 500 starts, and this just goes into the whole pile with all of them -- good ones and bad ones," said Moyer, who has 223 career wins. "The score obviously makes it look a lot worse, but that's baseball. It makes no sense to go home and cry about it. I've been in this game too long not to realize that one game doesn't make a season."
With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth and the Phillies already trailing 6-1, manager Charlie Manuel decided to let Moyer bat for himself instead of using a pinch hitter. Penny struck him out.
"I definitely thought about hitting for him there," Manuel said. "But at the same time, what came into play was where we were at with our bullpen."
Juan Pierre's presence on the bases in the first and third innings appeared to unnerve Moyer, and it translated into three-run innings both times against the veteran left-hander.
"You have to respect his ability to steal bases. Other than that, I don't think he's a distraction," Moyer said.
Pierre led off the third with a single and stole second. Martin walked, and Kent drove Moyer's next pitch into the left-field pavilion for his 12th homer and a 6-1 lead. The three RBI increased Kent's career total to 1,430, tying Hall of Famer Yogi Berra for 56th place all-time.
In the first, Rafael Furcal and Pierre singled, Furcal scored on Martin's groundout, and Pierre stole third before James Loney hit a sacrifice fly. Kent, who walked in front of Loney, came all the way around on a double by Nomar Garciaparra.
"Pierre's definitely a distraction and he creates a big problem for us," Manuel said. "When he gets on second, it seems like he steals third much easier than second. When you've got someone like that, you always have guys in scoring position and you stand a good chance of scoring. That's what we ran into early on tonight."
The Dodgers broke it open with a four-run sixth. Andre Ethier had an RBI single and Kemp drove the next pitch into the left-field bullpen for his fourth homer, giving Los Angeles a 10-1 lead. Moyer faced two more batters before coming out.
"He throws a lot of soft stuff, so you've just got to patient and make sure you get a pitch up to hit," Kemp said. "It's hard to stay back on Moyer because he's a good pitcher, and you usually get yourself out on him. That's what I did my first two at-bats, but I got the job done on the third at-bat."
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| Brad Penny yields just one run on four hits and three walks, while fanning eight over seven innings. (AP) |
| Players of the Game |
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| Philadelphia Phillies | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Jimmy Rollins, SS | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .290 |
| Abraham Nunez, SS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .271 |
| Shane Victorino, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .278 |
| Chase Utley, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .335 |
| J.C. Romero, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Ryan Howard, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .258 |
| Aaron Rowand, CF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .324 |
| Pat Burrell, LF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .230 |
| Jose Mesa, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a- Wes Helms, PH-3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .258 |
| Greg Dobbs, 3B-2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .288 |
| Carlos Ruiz, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .259 |
| Jamie Moyer, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .140 |
| Michael Bourn, LF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .253 |
| Totals | 33 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 10 | ||
| a-struck out for Mesa in the 8th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Chase Utley (37, Houlton) | ||||||||
| 3B - Shane Victorino (2, Penny) | ||||||||
| RBI - Chase Utley 2 (76), Aaron Rowand (47) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Aaron Rowand (24) | ||||||||
| SB - Jimmy Rollins (16, 3rd base off Penny/Martin) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 6 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Rollins-Utley-Howard, Nunez-Utley-Howard | ||||||||
| Philadelphia Phillies | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Jamie Moyer (L,7-8) | 5.1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4.99 |
| Jose Mesa | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.31 |
| J.C. Romero | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.96 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Jamie Moyer 90-54, Jose Mesa 13-6, J.C. Romero 11-7 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Jamie Moyer 5-7, Jose Mesa 3-0, J.C. Romero 2-0 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Jamie Moyer 28, Jose Mesa 4, J.C. Romero 3 | ||||||||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Rafael Furcal, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .280 |
| D.J. Houlton, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Juan Pierre, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .286 |
| Russell Martin, C | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .315 |
| Mike Lieberthal, C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Jeff Kent, 2B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .281 |
| Tony Abreu, 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .282 |
| James Loney, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .383 |
| Nomar Garciaparra, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .274 |
| Wilson Betemit, 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .221 |
| Andre Ethier, LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .294 |
| Matt Kemp, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .375 |
| Brad Penny, P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 |
| Ramon Martinez, SS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .154 |
| Totals | 31 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Nomar Garciaparra (13, Moyer) | ||||||||
| HR - Jeff Kent (12, Moyer), Matt Kemp (4, Moyer) | ||||||||
| SF - James Loney (1) | ||||||||
| RBI - Russell Martin (63), Jeff Kent 3 (50), James Loney (17), Nomar Garciaparra (44), Andre Ethier (38), Matt Kemp 3 (17) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Nomar Garciaparra (13) | ||||||||
| SB - Juan Pierre 2 (38, 3rd base off Moyer/Ruiz, 2nd base off Moyer/Ruiz) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 1 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Loney-Furcal-Penny | ||||||||
| E - Russell Martin (9, Throwing) | ||||||||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Brad Penny (W,11-1) | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2.33 |
| D.J. Houlton | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.15 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Brad Penny 104-70, D.J. Houlton 39-27 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Brad Penny 6-6 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Brad Penny 27, D.J. Houlton 9 | ||||||||
| Game Information |
| Attendance - 41458 |
| Game Time - 2:32 |
| Temperature - 73 |
| Umpires - Home - Mike Winters, First Base - Brian Runge, Second Base - Mark Wegner, Third Base - Bruce Froemming |
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