Sounds like a sitcom, doesn’t it?  Today’s game played like a television show, with a consistent story line (the Dodgers winning 12 of their last 13 games), a little drama (a rocky 1st inning by John Ely) and one of the team’s heroes giving the fans a happy ending (Jonathan Broxton delivering his third consecutive save).

And today, we also learned that John Ely is, indeed, human.  After pitching to 89 consecutive batters without giving up a walk, the 24 year-old starter finally succumbed, walking one batter in a rough first inning before rebounding and putting together another quality start against the Detroit Tigers.  In the end, the kid pitched through just over six innings, giving up eight hits, to go along with the one walk and three strikeouts.  His ERA for the season stands at 3.41.  Not bad for a kid who never pitched above Double A in his career.

Casey Blake continued his torrid hitting as of late, going 3 for 4, including a solo bomb.  Matt Kemp also went deep, DeWitt trippled (he leads the club with three) driving in two, with Loney and Manny contributing RBI to the cause.

Things started to get a little dicey after Torre gave Ely a quick hook in the 6th inning.  Kuo was in a bit of a jam with the bases loaded in the 6th, but rebounded with a fantastic throw to end the inning.  In the 8th, Troncoso simply looked worn out and needed Weaver to help keep the damage to a minimum.  Broxton also went threw a few struggles in the 9th, but closed the door with two strikeouts (swinging and looking, respectively) to record what was his third consecutive save – not bad when you consider how slow the season started for Brox.

In my opinion, one of the plays of the game was a diving stop made by Casey Blake to save a sure single.  Throwing from his knees, The Beard had a fantastic throw to second to record a critical out and give Broxton some much needed breathing room.

All in all, a solid win by the Dodgers.  For the majority of the game, the Dodgers looked very, very solid, combining great offense, solid defense and quality starting pitching.  The club goes for the sweep against the Tigers on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. PT with the Dodgers’ most consistent starter, Hiroki Kuroda (5-1, 2.87 ERA), taking on Rick Porcello (3-4, 5.93 ERA).