Dodgers late rally falls short

The Dodgers entered Saturday having been losers of 3 out of the last 10 games. Derek Lowe was set to return from an injury, going up against Diamondbacks starter Livan Hernandez.

Before the fans could sit down, crunch on their grilled Dodger Dogs and drink their cokes, Eric Byrnes jacked a 2 run homerun into the left field pavilion. The Dodgers attempted to get back into the game during the 4th inning by loading the bases. Ramon Martinez collected his 12th RBI on a walk. Eithier followed Martinez with a ground out. The score was 2-1 at that point.

The D-backs responded by collecting 4 runs in the 5th inning on some sloppy Dodger defense extending their lead to 6-1. Derek Lowe gave up 6 runs, 4 of which were earned. Houlton came into relieve Lowe in the 6th inning and surrendered a 2 run shot to Miguel Montero to further bury the Dodgers 8-1. The Dodger offense desperately tried to get back into the game in the bottom half of the inning, but only came back with 1 run.

The Dodgers got a second breath in the 7th inning when Justin Upton dropped a routine fly ball to load the bases. Luis Gonzales collected an RBI on a Sac Fly making it 8-3. With runners on the corners, Nomar Garciapara came thru in the clutch by slugging a 3 run homerun to make it 8-6.

The next inning, Andre Eithier absolutely crushed a pitch from Tony Pena for his 9th homerun of the year making it 8-7. This would be the end of the Dodger heroics as Jose Valverde shut the Dodgers down in order in the bottom of the 9th. The loss now puts the Dodgers 3 games back of first place Arizona.

Some small celebrations occurred during the game. Outfielder Justin Upton collected his first major league hit for Arizona and Delwyn Young collected his first hit for the Dodgers.

Pitcher showdown Sunday morning as Brad Penny looks to get his team back on track against sinker-baller Brandon Webb.

In other baseball news worth noting, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants finally hit his 755th homerun of his career. Padres pitcher Cla Meredith surrendered the historical homerun.