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The Los Angeles Times broke the story Friday, announcing Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre will resign at the end of the season, giving way to his understudy apprentice, Don Mattingly. 

Mattingly has been Torre’s right-hand man since 2004, following Torre from the New York Yankees to Los Angeles. 

Since mid-June, rumors have heated up regarding the status of Torre and his intentions for 2011—while many insiders felt he was leaning towards leaving Hollywood.

Rumors turned into foreshadowing when it was announced Mattingly would coach in the Dodger’s minor league system over the winter, perhaps a preseason of sorts for the soon-to-be rookie manager.

Torre is certainly a legendary manager in the game of baseball. Successful in his playing days, and even more successful as a manager, Torre couldn’t continue building his legacy in Los Angeles.

Perhaps he was the victim of turmoil and uncertainty in the organization, stemming from the current divorce process in ownership.

There are approximately six months until next spring, and changes are coming in that duration. Here are five reasons why these changes will benefit Mattingly, and why his tenure as Dodgers skipper will be more fruitful than Joe Torre’s short stint in Los Angeles.

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Dodgers‘ outfielder Andre Ethier has reportedly announced that he would “love” to play in Boston, according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Given the Red Sox‘ myriad outfield woes this season and Ethier‘s .851 career OPS, the Boston brass would no doubt equally love to welcome the 28-year-old lefty to Beantown.

Certainly, much of Red Sox Nation would leap at the prospect of acquiring Ethier, and the Dodgers’ divorce disarray could make such an acquisition an unlikely reality.

Not often do the financial, legal, and contractual stars align so perfectly. A year ago, the idea that Ethier might be available via trade would have been almost laughable, but the Dodger franchise is now in such turmoil that dealing a rising star with a favorable contract is no longer beyond the realm of possibility.

While most franchises, particularly ones situated in such mammoth markets, would smile upon Ethier‘s $9.25 million 2011 paycheck, the Dodgers are not one of them. Despite front office adamant statements to the contrary, the highly publicized McCourt divorce seems to have hamstrung that office’s spending ability.

In fact, the Dodgers’ financial constraints may not be limited to maintaining what is already a questionably low payroll. The Dodgers may be forced to cut further a budget that already seems shy of their perceived revenue streams.

Ethier may be one of the young stars of Hollywood’s ballclub, but his rising stock may be the very thing that sees him prematurely exit the Los Angeles stage.

Oddly enough, it’s not so much Ethier‘s next big raise that might render him unaffordable for the divorce-embroiled Dodgers; rather, it’s Ethier‘s paltry $3.75 million pay increase from 2010 to 2011 that might ship him off to Boston.

Obviously, given Ethier‘s limited MLB service time, his desires factor little in any possible trade destination. However, the Red Sox and Dodgers have a solid history in the trade market and in an essentially forced trade, an easy, familiar negotiation may be valued at a premium.

In case there is any doubt, the Red Sox certainly could take advantage of Ethier‘s bat in 2011 and beyond.

Presently, Boston has Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, and J.D. Drew manning the outfield for another year, but the Red Sox could easily make room for Ethier. Should an Ethier trade become a palpable possibility, the Red Sox could let David Ortiz walk, shift Drew to designated hitter, and plant Ethier in right field.

Both Drew and Cameron are under contract for only one more year, and the Sox aren’t likely to resign either, so keeping them happy with their playing time or positioning shouldn’t be particularly high on the list of 2011 priorities.

There is ample room for Ethier and his Pesky-perfect lefty bat.

For breaking Red Sox news updates, follow Peter on Twitter at BoSoxUpdate.

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Here is today’s Holy Crap discovery. It has to do with the roller coaster season Andre Ethier has had.

But let’s not start in 2010. Let’s go back to 2008.

Back in 2008, you’ll recall, Manny Ramirez made kind of an ass out of himself (which is like saying back in the summer of 2003 Kobe Bryant had some trouble in Colorado), and got himself run out of Boston. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Manny, he had an unbelievable two months with L.A., and the Dodgers went to the NLCS.

Manny’s first day with the Dodgers was August 1st.

Coming into August 1, 2008, Ethier was having a merely solid season for the Dodgers. He was hitting .274 with a .339 on-base percentage and a .442 slugging percentage (which we’ll represent as .274/.339/.442). To that point in the season, he had 11 home runs and 46 RBI, along with 33 walks and 61 strikeouts.

Let’s make this pretty; if everyone can follow it, we’ll represent his stats as:

2008, w/o Manny: 11/46, 33/61, .274/.339/.442

These numbers were roughly equivalent, if not a little below, his career totals of 35 home runs, 165 RBI, 113 walks and 206 strikeouts in 375 career games. Prior to Manny going to LA, Ethier had hit .289/.351/.457 with a career OPS of .809.

But over the course of the final 45 games of the season, after Manny joined the team, Ethier blew up:

2008, w/Manny: 9/31, 26/27, .368/.448/.649

He hit nine home runs with 31 RBI, took 26 walks and struck out only 27 times, and his rate stats were shocking: .368/.448/.649.  He was, almost literally, a completely different player.

Now, Dodgers fans and Manny haters alike will remember that in the 2009 season, Manny got suspended for taking birth control pills (or something), and endured a 50 game suspension. That suspension ran from May 6th to July 3rd.

On May 6, 2009, Andre Ethier was hitting .317/.438/.558 with 6 home runs, 27 RBI, 20 walks, and 16 strikeouts.

2009, w/Manny Pt I: 6/27, 20/16, .317/.438/.558

The Manny left the team. Over the 48 games Ethier played in during Manny’s absence, he hit 9 home runs with 25 RBI, walked 16 times and struck out 42 times, and hit went .222/.293/.438!

2009, w/o Manny: 9/25, 16/42, .222/.293/.438

Manny’s first game back was July 3rd, and from that point on Ethier returned to respectability: 83 games, 16 home runs, 54 RBI, 36 walks, 58 strikeouts, and .285/.370/.532.

2009, w/Manny Pt 2: 16/54, 36/58, .285/.370/.532

On to 2010. Manny, of course, has had a spotty season in 2010, so we’ll try to keep this neat:

Ramirez and Ethier each missed two weeks during the first three months of the season, during which time Ethier got off to a tremendous start before slowing up a bit, and by June 29th had 12 home runs, 47 RBI, 23 walks and 35 strikeouts, and was hitting .312/.370/.547, though as late as May 14th he was hitting .392.

2010, w/Manny: 12/47, 23/35, .312/.370/.547

Manny then got hurt (or whatever it was) at the end of June/beginning of July, and missed all but seven games in July and August.  During this period, Ethier hit eight home runs with 24 RBI, 20 walks, and 48 strikeouts, while hitting .278/.345/.460.

2010, w/o Manny: 8/24, 20/48, .278/.345/.460

Manny was then waived and picked up by the White Sox at the end of August, and Ethier has fallen off the face of the earth: After eleven September games, Ethier has one home run, 3 RBI, 6 walks and 13 strikeouts, while hitting .167/.286/.278.

2010, after Manny: 1/3, 6/13, .167/.286/.278.

Put it all together, and what do we get?

2008, w/o Manny: 11/46, 33/61, .274/.339/.442
2008, w/Manny: 9/31, 26/27, .368/.448/.649

2009, w/Manny Pt I: 6/27, 20/16, .317/.438/.558
2009, w/o Manny: 9/25, 16/42, .222/.293/.438
2009, w/Manny Pt 2: 16/54, 36/58, .285/.370/.532

2010, w/Manny: 12/47, 23/35, .312/.370/.547
2010, w/o Manny: 8/24, 20/48, .278/.345/.460
2010, after Manny: 1/3, 6/13, .167/.286/.278.

What you get is numbers that don’t paint a particularly flattering picture of Andre Ethier, and make it seem pretty clear that when the Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez, they were getting two players for the price of one.

And now that Ramirez is gone, so too is Andre Ethier.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

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What a difference a year makes.

After two consecutive trips to the NLCS in 2008 and 2009, Dodgers fans had even higher hopes for the 2010 season.

Folks in Dodgertown knew that the divorce between Frank and Jamie McCourt would have some type of effect on the organization, but nobody guessed the 2010 campaign would turn into a struggle on the field.

For the first two months of the season, the experts were concluding the Dodgers easily had the best offense in the NL West, and they presumed starting pitching would be the downfall for the Boys in Blue. However, those experts were way off the mark with their analysis—the starting pitchers were steady, and the offense was scarce.

Some critics say it was the overwhelming number of injuries that prevented a successful year, while others insist it was the lack of funds to sign a big market player to put the team over the top. Some even blame the coaches and managers for ineffective guidance and poor decision-making.

After Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat to the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers found themselves under the .500 mark for the first time since May 11. Trailing the division-leading Padres and the Wild Card leaders by 10 games in both categories with only 23 contests remaining, the Dodgers are hoping to close out the year on a high note and build momentum heading into 2011.

Still, with future management and ownership uncertain, many questions remain to be answered in the off-season, and depending on the outcome of the divorce trial, it may be difficult for the Dodgers to get a fresh start heading into next year.

The following slides show eight primary reasons why the Los Angeles Dodgers fell from contention 2010. Everyone in Dodgertown hopes to put these horrors and nightmares in the past and start with a new sense of enthusiasm, and a fresh appetite in 2011.

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With the latest installment of Hall of Fame inductees being honored Sunday, the concept of current players with the ability to make it to the Hall of Fame is once again on the minds of fans around the league.

The Dodgers have a talented outfield and some well-known names in the infield. There’s a “sure thing,” a “quite likely,” and a “possibly,” on the Dodgers roster when it comes to the Hall of Fame, and some big names that may not make it.

Here are three players I feel have a legitimate chance at finding their way to Cooperstown, and some honorable mentions that might just miss the mark.

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It’s been depressing, disheartening, and discomforting to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers (49-45), who have not won a game since the All-Star break (0-6).

Last night the Dodgers suffered a gut-wrenching loss to their rival San Francisco Giants when Andrew Torres hit a go-ahead, two-run double off the wall in the ninth inning off reliever George Sherill. 

Don Mattingly then replaced Sherrill with Travis Schlichting, who gave up an RBI single later in the inning to the Giants’ red-hot catcher Buster Posey. 

Then in the bottom of the ninth, after the Giants had taken a 7-5 lead, the Dodgers last chance at recovery—Andre Ethier—stepped up to the plate with a man on second. After hitting a two-run home run earlier in the game, and notorious for producing in clutch moments throughout the season, Ethier had momentum on his side.

But what began as a hopeful 2-0 count evaporated into a demoralizing strikeout for the All-Star outfielder, sealing the Dodgers’ sixth straight loss.

After manager Joe Torre was ejected earlier in the game, Don Mattingly took over, but made a potentially game-changing, managerial mistake in the top of the ninth. Mattingly approached closer Jonathan Broxton, who appeared just moments away from blowing his second save in three days, but then made the fatal error of stepping off the mound only to retreat a few steps back after hearing first basemen James Loney utter a question in the distance.

Rule 8.06(d) in the Major League Baseball rulebook states that only one visit can be made to the mound per inning by a manager or coach without removing the pitcher. Two visits to the same pitcher in the same inning means that pitcher automatically has to be taken out. The rule declares that “a manager or coach is considered to have concluded his visit when he leaves the 18-foot circle surrounding the pitcher’s rubber.”

Consequently, when Mattingly approached Jonathon Broxton on the mound two separate times, it forced the Dodgers’ intimidating and experienced closer to leave the game and be replaced by Sherill. 

The Dodgers handed the Giants a second victory in a row, but that was just the bitter topping on the cake for the slew of games the Dodgers have thrown away since returning from the All-Star break.

Being swept by the St. Louis Cardinals was a tough blow, but realistically they faced the stellar pitching of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, which completely shut them down. 

But on the other hand, where was the Dodgers pitching? 

Well, it’s where it has been all season, mediocre and inconsistent.

While no team is flawless, the Los Angeles Dodgers most visible and detrimental issue has been their pitching staff. Other than Vicente Padilla, who has proven truly reliable on the mound, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, and Hiroki Kuroda continue to struggle and remain in a desperate search of their rhythm.

Even Broxton, a two-time All-Star, continues to underperform. After the Cardinals took two games from the Dodgers last week, Broxton let the third slip away last Sunday in a grueling 5-4 loss.

Neither Dodger All-Star has shined since the break. Other than last night’s two-run home run, the powerful bat of Andre Ethier has been non-existent.

Aside from the burden of a capricious pitching staff, the Dodgers are without a leader. Ethier is too young, Loney too erratic, and Matt Kemp is too unpredictable. Though players like Rafael Furcal and Manny Ramirez have the experience, they have been plagued by injury.

In fact, in the midst of the Dodgers’ despair, Ramirez was just put on the disabled list with a strained calf.

Los Angeles is lagging behind a surprising San Diego Padres juggernaut, a resurgent Colorado Rockies team and the streaky San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers’ bats need to be reawakened and rescue them from this bundle of losses.

A more consistent, dependable pitcher like Hong-Chih Kuo should replace the turbulent Broxton.

Finally, Joe Torre needs to come to the team’s aid and revive it from this losing streak.

There is still a lot of baseball to be played and with an upcoming schedule that looks to be in their favor, hopefully the Dodgers can take advantage and regain their confidence and control.

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Whether it was Rafael Furcal’s sizzling bat, Jonathon Broxton’s overpowering pitching, or Andre Ethier’s clutch hitting, the boys in blue performed exceptionally throughout the first half of their season.

However, numerous injuries and continual struggles within the pitching staff have obstructed their consistency.

It’s difficult to determine whether the buzz generated about their chances to contend in the NL are too hasty or totally warranted.

A multitude of factors will contribute to the Dodgers’ goals ultimately coming to fruition.

Rafael Furcal

Batting .333 with six home runs and 35 RBI, Rafael Furcal is the ideal lead-off man, captain of the infield, and intimidating presence for the Dodgers.

If Rafael Furcal can maintain his health, the Dodgers will have a powerful advantage.

It’s not his agility, his speed, his range, his bat, or his field vision that distinguishes him from his peers, but instead the fusion of all of his talents that makes him such a threat.

Just today, Furcal was chosen to replace the Mets’ shortstop, Jose Reyes, for the All-Star game; a recognition he undoubtedly earned, but must live up to in the second half of the season.

All-Stars need to continue to perform at the highest level

Outfielder Andre Ethier and pitcher Jonathon Broxton have been on a tear in the 2010 season and deservedly will play in the All-Star game Tuesday, July 13, 2010, in Anaheim, CA.

Ethier was at or near the top of the NL leader lists for all three Triple Crown categories—batting average, home runs, and RBI—for the first six weeks of the season. However, an accident in batting practice landed him on the 15-day disabled list. 

But Ethier has gradually returned, recovered, and been revitalized, batting .324 with 14 home runs, and 54 RBI.

In Jonathon Broxton’s 38 innings pitched, he has struck out 55 batters, recorded 19 saves, and has a 2.11 ERA.

Though he started slowly this season—carding just one save in the Dodgers’ first 28 games—Broxton has revealed his overpowering speed, control, and stamina as the Dodgers go-to closer.

It is absolutely essential that both Ethier and Broxton sustain their stellar play and act as leaders for the rest of the team.

Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Russell Martin need to step it up

Loney: Sure, when you think about first baseman, it’s nearly impossible not to think Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Joey Votto.

But James Loney has the potential to become one of the elite first basemen in professional baseball.

His .305 BA and five home runs are decent, but his 59 RBI illuminate Loney’s capacity to swing the bat with force and at the right time. Loney’s consistency is crucial to the Dodgers success.

Kemp: Though Matt Kemp has 16 home-runs and 50 RBI, he has struck out 97 times so far this season. Kemp is obviously aggressive at the plate, but if he can train his eye to select the right pitches to be aggressive with, he will become a threat each time he steps up to the plate.

Martin: Russell Martin is another example of a Dodger who has struggled over the course of this season due to injuries and, consequently, inconsistency.

Though Martin has brute force at the plate, he has only produced five home runs and 22 RBI, which is mediocre for a player of his capacity. Defensively, Martin has the potential to be one of the best catchers in the league, but his injuries have made him appear “sluggish,” as manager Joe Torre recently commented.

Hopefully the All-Star break will benefit his recovery and he will return in the second half as one of the Dodgers offensive and defensive leaders.

Manny Ramirez needs to find his swing

Does anyone else cringe when the ball is hit to Manny in right field?

Defensively, he’s not much of a star or model for emulation.

But, there’s no doubting that his swing is unrivaled in power and precision. Ramirez has unbelievably quick hands, incredible pitch recognition, and when he fully turns his lower-half into the ball, he strikes it with an almost violent force.

However, Dodger fans have suffered unceasing frustration as Ramirez has been struck by injury (allowing him to play only 59 games thus season) and only hit eight home runs, with 39 RBI this season.

There used to be a palpable, roaring presence that permeated the stadium when Manny approached the plate. The pitcher would tense up, outfielders would take steps back toward the warning track, and young kids in the bleachers would slide their gloves on in anticipation of a bomb.

Ramirez needs to be smart about getting healthy and gradually return to his old self because he is far too talented to not shine among the league’s best.

Pitching: The Dodgers Achilles Heel that must subside

It’s as simple as this: Either the Dodgers organization needs to lure in new, effective pitchers, or the current pitching staff needs to come through.

The Dodgers pitching has been wrought with inconsistency and critics have been quick to blame their inadequacy for the Dodgers No.3 ranking in the NL West; one game behind the Colorado Rockies and two games behind the San Diego Padres.

While some pitchers have been plagued by health issues, like Chad Billingsley (7-4), and others by lack of experience, like John Ely (4-7), the pitching staff has been neither effective nor reliable this season.

But this is not just about starters.

Only Hong-Chih Kuo has pitched well this season (recently chosen to replace Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves in the All-Star game), while relievers like Carlos Monasterios, George Sherill, and Jeff Weaver have underachieved and ruined far too many possible Dodger victories.

Whether it’s an attitude adjustment or mechanics reconstruction, the pitchers of the Los Angeles Dodgers have the capacity to make or break the second half of their team’s season.

It’s about winning series and gaining momentum

The Dodgers will lose games—that’s an undeniable part of the sport.

But, if the Dodgers can learn to cultivate their strengths and use the momentum of winning series to their advantage, there will an overall surge in the team’s attitude and presence among the league.

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The MLB All-Star Lineup has garnered a variety of reactions, ranging from cheers and sighs of relief to whimpers and shrieks of disbelief.

When the 2010 MLB All-Star lineups were released, there were undoubtedly as many elated fans as there were bitter fans.

No matter where the stadium is located, fans maintain an unceasing allegiance to their favorite teams and players.

Being chosen to play in the All-Star game represents the ultimate recognition that fans, coaches, and players alike have observed, reveled in, and appreciated every moment of a player’s season thus far.

However, examining the all-stars chosen from the NL West has generated a surge of controversy over just who earned their position.

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If you didn’t see this coming, you truly know what it means to be a fan and love blindly.

The Dodgers stumbled into interleague play with a pitching staff turning out one brilliant performance after another, while the offense provided just enough of a pulse to keep the team alive.

Minus a couple of run-scoring outbursts, one against the Cardinals and a week later against the Reds, the Dodgers have scored five runs or fewer in 14 of 18 games in June, including back-to-back 1-0 wins against the hapless Diamondbacks.

It was only a matter of time before the thin starting rotation began to falter and the bullpen was exposed for its lack of effectiveness.

The routine goes something like this: The starting pitchers sharpen up and therefore go deeper into games. The bullpen, therefore, doesn’t have to participate in extended inning appearances and can get by while being effective in short relief.

The offense then simply has to cover the gap. A small number of runs will be held up by the opposition’s lack of offense during superb Dodgers pitching.

The Dodgers experienced success with Hiroki Kuroda remaining healthy, a young pitcher not preceded by a scouting report, and a 22-year-old work horse fronting a veteran staff.

However, more injuries to the starting rotation and bullpen, along with borrowed time catching up to John Ely and the Dodgers who are finding themselves dropping to third place in the N.L. West.

The offense that went previously undetected now looks like a watermelon on the radar screen, having been swept by the Angels and the Red Sox.

American League teams specialize in hitting while having no pitcher spot to account for, and the comparison between American League offensive production and the lack of Dodgers production was made glaringly obvious.

Andre Ethier’s batting average has steadily dropped to .318 since returning from the Disabled List. Matt Kemp went through a 0-16 slump and saw his batting average plummet to .258 with just a small handful of RBI in June.

The Dodgers continue to struggle to produce with runners in scoring position and have their hands full this week. The Dodgers are set to take on the Angels for a three-game series in Anaheim.

So where do the Dodgers go from here? They have signed Kiko Calero and Claudio Vargas, figures on the horizon that Los Angeles hopes are not a mirage.

The veteran pitchers will come in with low expectations; they simply have to stay healthy and will already be faring better than current Dodgers pitchers. Their assignment, if called upon, will be to eat up innings and provide spot starts while rotation starters Chad Billingsley and Carlos Monasterios lick their wounds.

Vicente Padilla is back just in time, as his start Saturday bridged a gap and bailed out manager Joe Torre, who was relieved to be out of a pickle. Padilla wasn’t overly impressive, but kept the team in the neighborhood before the bullpen gave it away.

If the current trend holds up, fans can expect some serious shuffling of names on the active roster, with notable names and new faces adorning the blue and red.

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Usually, when people hear about a walk-off in Dodger Stadium, it involves an Andre Ethier walk-off home run. Although he was a part of a turning point in this game, and although he was back in the lineup for the first time in 15 games after suffering a broken pinkie finger, he wasn’t the reason why they won last night: Casey Blake was.

The latest walk-off victory for the Dodgers happened against the Diamondbacks on Monday, when the jesting third baseman played possum with relief pitcher Esmerling Vasquez.

The sneaky veteran took a few steps away from third base for his normal baserunner lead, faked making a run for home, and moved back to his regular lead. As Vasquez came to a set position, he reacted by taking the baseball out of his glove and then stepping off the rubber. As first-base umpire Tim Timmons saw this, he called the balk, giving Blake the extra base from third and the 5-4 win.

“Most of the time it doesn’t work,” Blake explained. “But sometimes it does.”

The victory finished the Dodgers’ May with a 20-8 record—their best May since they went 21-7 in 1962.

Joe Torre had no reason behind how the Dodgers won the game except for the simple fact that “[they] lucked out.”

Not only did they win the game in a bizarre way, but they also tied the game with a little help from the Diamondbacks’ defense. Down by two runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Andre Ethier (baseball’s top clutch performer who just got re-activated into the lineup) came up in the clutch again by hitting a routine ground ball to Kelly Johnson with runners on second and third.

Johnson bobbled the ball, giving a chance for Ethier to make it to first. The second baseman then threw the ball away, allowing both Rafael Furcal and Matt Kemp to score and tie the game. Johnson was charged with two errors on that play.

“He made an error at a really bad time,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s been very sure-handed; he’s played every day and done a nice job for us. It’s unfortunate that it came at that time. It’s a killer. The ball was hit pretty hard and things like that happen, but it’s a play he normally makes.”

There was one more piece to this crazy puzzle. Before Blake’s little stunt, James Loney was on base. After drawing a walk, Blake singled to center field, putting runners on first and second. With nobody out, Russell Martin comes up to the plate.

The ball squirted away from catcher Chris Snyder, and third baseman Augie Ojeda had run toward the infield; it’s funny because the ball was about to be thrown to the pitcher by the time Ojeda moved inward. Loney attempted to steal third, but was too wary about being caught in a pickle and tried running back to second base.

In that situation, it was too late to think, as he was caught in a rundown anyway and was tagged out a few steps away from third; luckily, Casey Blake was smart enough to move to second during the rundown.

“I just saw him real close to the mound and I just reacted to him being so close to the mound,” Loney said. “If I kept going, I probably would’ve got there. But even in that situation, still, I mean why risk it? I just reacted in a bad way.”

All of that happened in one game. If that’s not a crazy game, then I don’t know what is.

On a few more notes:

This marks the first balk-off win for the Dodgers since Roger McDowell of the New York Mets balked in a run on May 28, 1989.

It is the first time a Major League game has ended on a balk since September 8, 2008.

The Diamondbacks hit three home runs in the first two innings of the ballgame. Justin Upton hit a two-run shot to the opposite field in the first inning, Chris Young led off the second inning with his eighth homer, and Chris Snyder hit his eighth of the season, as well. That’s right: all the Diamondbacks runs came off of home runs.

Manny Ramirez went deep in the second inning, hitting his 550th career home run. The solo shot put the Dodgers on the board, but still trailing, 4-1.

Chad Billingsley settled down after giving up those three home runs in the first two innings. He struck out 11 batters, which is a season high for him. The last time he struck out that many batters was on June 30, when he struck out 11 against the Rockies.

Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds was pulled out of the game in the ninth inning due to the recurrence of a right quad injury. He is currently listed as day-to-day.

This marks the Diamondbacks’ eighth straight loss. After winning four in a row, they’re back in the saddle.

After a month of battling out of last place, the Dodgers finally look like they have things back on track. They’re currently in second place (two games out of first), battling with the Padres, who look like they’re coming down to earth. The Dodgers’ pitching is only getting better, and Andre Ethier is back. Plus, they’re coming off a very good month, winning 20 games. What more could a Dodgers’ fan ask for?

Extras:

Blake’s balk-off.

Kelly Johnson’s mishap.

Recap of the game , courtesy of MLB.com.

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