October 2nd, 2012 at 1:44 am 
by Ron Cervenka The Dodgers playoff hopes remain alive, albeit by a thread, thanks to a bottom of the 9th one-out, bases loaded single by Dodgers left fielder Elian Herrera off the glove of Giants second baseman Marcos Scutaro, as the Dodgers beat the Giants 3-2 before a small but lively crowd of 33,624 at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.
Herrera had entered the game in left field in the top of the 9th with Shane Victorino moving over to right field to spell Andre Ethier as part of a two-for-one switch. As has been the case of late, it proved to be a genius move by Dodgers manager Don Mattingly.
Although the Dodgers entered the game trailing the St. Louis Cardinals by two games in the Wild Card standings with only three games remaining, that lead dwindled to only one game by the 4th inning as the Cards beat the Reds at Busch Stadium 4-2. That Cardinals victory reduces the Dodgers elimination number to one game and now forces the Dodgers to win out the season and they need the Reds to win the next two games against the Cards to force a one-game playoff between the Dodgers and Cardinals for the second NL Wild card spot. Needless to say, the Dodgers are going to need some divine intervention to force that playoff game.
Aaron Harang pitched an outstanding game for the Dodgers going 6 strong innings allowing only one run on two hits while striking out three and walking one, but he did not figure in the decision. Ronald Belisario pitched a scoreless 7th for the Dodgers but Kenley Jansen allowed the Giants to tie the game 2-2 in the top of the 8th with his 7th blown save of the season. Brandon League pitched a scoreless 9th allowing only one hit.
Although Aaron Harang didn’t figure in the decision in Monday night’s game, he pitched an absolute gem and finished the regular season with a 10-10 record and a career best 3.61 ERA. (Photo credit – Mark J. Terrill)
Brandon League was the beneficiary of Herrera’s game winning hit picking up his second win since joining the Dodgers. League is now 2-1 with a 2.39 ERA since joining the team. He is 2-6 on the season with a 3.17 ERA counting his Mariners stats.
Andre Ethier connects for his 20th home run of the season off of Giants ace Matt Cain. (Photo credit – Mark J. Terrill)
The Giants scored a run in the top of the 1st and Giants ace Matt Cain appeared in complete control of a lethargic Dodgers offense until the bottom of the 4th when Mark Ellis lead off the inning with a single. Ellis was followed by Andre Ethier who hit a monster home run to deep right center field to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. It was Ethier’s 20th home run of the season and now gives him 20 or more home runs in four of the last five seasons. Ethier joins teammates Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez in the 20+ club with 22 and 24 home runs respectively.
Look for the excitement to continue on Tuesday night when Chris Capuano (12-11) will square off against Barry Zito (14-8).
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By the way – if the Giants hadn’t had their infield drawn in, Herrera’s hit is a 4-6-3 inning ending double play; although that was the right call by Bochy.
I am so glad to see the team finish like they are on a positive note. It just sucks that they started to play like this so very late. Who would have thought that the seasons last two games would come down to rooting with everything we’ve got for the Reds to win two.
I just wish we could “redo” August.
A really important game today.
It could end early tonight if the Cruds win, but if the Reds prevail this could be a rather exciting game tonight. This season has been an improvement over the last two seasons, so if the worse comes to the worse at least we have that to fall back on.
As evidenced in your video clip, you are getting real good at holding your emotions in the press box. Last night’s win would have been a tough one to stay quiet on.
Let’s go Reds!