With a Little 'Dumb Luck,' L.A. Pulls Even

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers apparently have the whole waiting-for-a-mistake thing down cold.

Last week against the Cardinals, after getting bageled by Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright, they simply waited for the Cardinals bullpen to come in and for Matt Holliday to drop a fly ball, and they walked off with a win.

On Friday afternoon, after faring worse than the Netherlands against Pedro Martinez for seven innings, they simply waited for the Phillies' bullpen to come in the game. This time, Philadelphia made enough mistakes in one nightmarish inning to leave the Phillies shaking their heads all the way across the country.

---

---

"It would have been nice to go home 2-0," Jimmy Rollins said after the 2-1 loss to the Dodgers left the National League Championship Series even at a game apiece. "This time of year, good teams don't let you get away with mistakes."

Truthfully, the best thing you could say about the Dodgers on Friday was that they didn't beat themselves. Starter Vicente Padilla pitched brilliantly into the eighth, his only mistake a hanging curve that Ryan Howard hit into the seats, and then the Dodgers waited for the Phillies to implode.


Their first mistake, however, was not made by manager Charlie Manuel when he lifted Martinez after those seven innings and 87 pitches. Martinez had allowed only two singles, but Manuel said he had zero regrets about taking him out, and he shouldn't. First, Martinez's spot in the batting order came up with a runner at first and one out in the top of the eighth, so it was an obvious pinch-hitting situation. Second, Martinez had barely pitched over the past few weeks, so pushing him would have been a gamble.

"He was gone," Manuel said. "I think he was spent. We got seven innings out of him. When the game started, I think I told you guys that I was looking for anywhere from 70 to 85 pitches."

Besides, if you are looking for a 37-year-old starter to get key eighth-inning outs because you don't trust your bullpen, you've got problems. So Manuel went to Chan Ho Park, which was an obvious choice given how well he had pitched the night before. Park did his job, but it didn't work out, as the mistakes and bad luck started to pile up.

Casey Blake led off with a hard shot off the glove of third baseman Pedro Feliz, who was playing toward the line to prevent a double. When asked if he should have made the play, Feliz said: "I didn't make it. I tried my best."

No excuses.

"He was gone. I think he was spent. We got seven innings out of him. When the game started, I think I told you guys that I was looking for anywhere from 70 to 85 pitches."
- Charlie Manuel on his decision to pull Pedro Martinez after seven shutout innings Then came Ronnie Belliard, whose bunt was hit hard, so hard that it rolled past Park and into no-man's land in the middle of the infield. A hit. File both of those under bad luck, balls that could have been outs, but weren't.

Next was Russell Martin, who also attempted to bunt, but couldn't get it down. Instead Martin swung away and hit what should have been a routine double play ball to Feliz. Feliz threw to second, and Chase Utley chucked the ball toward the Phillies dugout, allowing pinch-runner Juan Pierre to score the game-tying run. It was the second time in two nights Utley had blown the same play. Dodgers manager Joe Torre called the whole sequence, the failed bunt and the would-be double play gone bad, "dumb luck."

"It was just a bad throw," Utley said. "He gave me a great feed. I just made a bad throw. ... I had plenty of time to turn it. I just didn't."

No excuses.

Next was pinch-hitter Jim Thome against Philles lefty Scott Eyre. Thome was 0-for-7 in his career against Eyre. This time, Eyre threw a slider that didn't slide. It just spun. Thome lashed it into right for a single, sending Martin to third.

Ryan Madson then walked Rafael Furcal and struck out Matt Kemp for the second out, bringing up the Dodgers' best clutch performer: Andre Ethier. Manuel brought out lefty J.A. Happ because Ethier had hit .194 against lefties. Ethier fouled off three pitches and eventually took the ninth pitch of the at-bat for ball four, bringing in the go-ahead run.

"I came in and felt good," Happ said. "That's the situation I want to be in. Hopefully I get the chance again. I got ahead of him and unfortunately, I let him go."

No excuses.

To review: A hit off the third baseman's glove. An infield hit on a bad bunt. A blown double play ball. Two walks. The Dodgers certainly didn't plan it that way, but so far half of their four postseason victories have been gift-wrapped.

If there is any silver lining for the Phillies, at least they have experience bouncing back from this sort of thing. You don't ride into the playoffs with a closer who blew 11 saves without the ability to be resilient from a late-inning loss.

This blown save came without any contribution from Brad Lidge, though. It was simply a collection of mistakes and bad luck spread around.

"You know what I call that?" Manuel said. "I call that baseball. I call that just the way the game goes. Those are things you've got to live with. Sometimes it comes out our way. Sometimes it goes the other team's way.

"The team that gets a break and the team that capitalizes or gets a big hit or a guy that makes a big pitch, that's the team that wins the game."

So far this postseason, the Dodgers seem to be that team.