If you had to pick the one person who was most instrumental in the Dodgers’ 7-6 NL West-clinching game over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, you would undoubtedly say Hanley Ramirez for his 4 for 5, two-home run, 4 RBI performance, right? After all, Hanley’s 18th and 19th home runs of the season set a new Dodger record for a shortstop, topping Don Zimmer’s previous record of 17 set in 1958.

Ramirez couldn’t have picked a better time to have a great game.

Or would it be A.J. Ellis’s dramatic solo home run in the top of the 8th inning which would prove to be the eventual game-winner?

Or would it be Kenley Jansen’s dominating 9th inning performance to shut down the heart of the Dbacks order in order, including the one guy who has owned the Dodgers this season – Paul Goldschmidt?

Jansen was absolutely dominating in the bottom of the 9th retiring the Dbacks in order for the save and clinching the 2013 NL West title.

Or would it be Juan Uribe, who made two more brilliant defensive plays at third base, just as he has done all season long in what should be a Gold Glove Award winning season, not to mention his excellent offense as well.

Although Juan Uribe has had a great year with the bat, it is his Gold Glove-worthy play at third base that helped the Dodgers win the NL West title.

The list of heroes in Thursday’s game seems to go on and on and it is almost impossible to pick only one. And though Ramirez and A.J. and Jansen and Uribe are the most obvious, there was one guy who quietly and effectively did exactly as he has done since joining the Dodgers on July 30 when he retired the Dbacks in order in the bottom of the 8th inning. I am, of course, referring to former All-Star closer and current Dodgers set-up man Brian Wilson.

Almost lost in the excitement of Hanley’s two home runs, Ellis’s game-winner, Uribe’s stellar defense, Jansen’s 26th save of the season to clinch the NL West title was Wilson’s own 1-2-3 inning in which he struck out one. In doing so, Wilson left the ever-dangerous Goldschmidt standing in the on-deck circle when the inning ended. Granted, it was Jansen who eventually got Goldschmidt to strikeout on a checked swing in the 9th inning, he was able to do so with no one on base – an always dangerous proposition.

Without a lot of drama and hoopla, Brian Wilson has been nothing short of outstanding since joining the Dodgers. His 1-2-3 inning on Thursday set the stage for the Dodgers to clinch the NL West title.

In essence, Wilson cut off the head of the snake (pun intended) and rendered the Dbacks far less dangerous by handing the ball to Jansen with the league’s RBI leader in a position where he could not beat the Dodgers, as he has done so many times over the past two seasons.

In his 14 appearances since joining the Dodgers, Wilson is 2-1 with a phenomenal 0.87 ERA. He has struck out eight while walking only three and has allowed only one run to score in 10.1 innings pitched. Yet when Wilson walked off the field after doing his job exceptionally well on Thursday, he did so (as he always does) without any fist pumping or other emotion.

After Jansen retired Aaron Hill for the final out of the game, the celebration began.

It will be interesting to see how Dodger manager Don Mattingly approaches the weekend series in San Diego and if he will rest all of his regulars at the same time with home field advantage through the playoffs (except the World Series) still up for grabs. But whatever Mattingly does, you can bet the Brian Wilson will be a key component in the remaining nine games of the 2013 season.

When the Dbacks basically told the Dodgers that they could not celebrate on their field, they didn’t say anything about the pool. Yasiel Puig is seen here about to make a huge splash with a celebratory belly flop.

(Photo credit all – Ron Cervenka)