The Game of Baseball

Assuming the Los Dodgers keep up their torrid pace, they may supplant Arizona atop the National League West standings in a very short span of time; the team's "hero du jour" (hero of the day in French) in their game Thursday against the Florida Marlins was Matt Kemp as he had a tie-breaking base hit in the 9th inning, leading Los Angeles past Florida 5-3 at Dolphin Stadium. Los Angeles was led by Juan Pierre with 2 hits, including a double, a stolen base, a run scored and 2 RBIs. The winning pitcher was Joe Beimel (3-0) who pitched 1/3 of an inning while Takashi Saito notched his 4th save. Florida was led by Matt Treanor with 2 hits and a run scored while Cody Ross hit his first home run of the season, adding a run scored and 2 RBIs. Kelvin Gregg took the loss as he pitched an inning, allowing a hit, an earned run while walking 2. Los Angeles (15-13) plays again on Friday as they travel to Denver to face the Colorado Rockies (11-17); Brad Penny (4-2) gets the start for the Dodgers while Jeff Francis (0-2) will start for the Rockies. Florida (15-13) plays again on Friday as they host the San Diego Padres (11-17); Mark Hendrickson (4-1) will start for Florida while Justin Germano (0-2) gets the assignment for San Diego.