NewsManny's first RBIs lead Dodgers
Ramirez breaks tie with two-run double in seventh inning
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
04/09/09 2:17 AM ET
SAN DIEGO -- He's baaaack.Three games into the season, Manny Ramirez fixed his swing and broke the Padres.
The $25 million Dodger spotted a mechanical flaw before the game by comparing this year's video to last year's, then was money in the clutch, driving in three runs and scoring another, his two-run tie-breaking double in the seventh inning leading the Dodgers to a 5-2 victory.
"That's why we got video," said Ramirez, who also had a single and a walk in five plate appearances. "My hands were too far away and I tried to fix it before the game. I watched at-bats, watched what I did last year. Sometimes my hands are not in the right place."
Ramirez reclaimed the lead for the Dodgers in the seventh with a one-out opposite-field drive off reliever Edward Mujica just over the head of right fielder Brian Giles, scoring Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson. They had reached on soft singles, Hudson's a hit-and-run looper just out of the reach of third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. James Loney's two-out single scored Ramirez with an insurance run.
Chad Billingsley got the win in his first start since an October playoff debacle, a November broken leg and a strained groin. He left for a pinch-hitter after six innings, having allowed only two hits that didn't factor in the Padres' scoring. It was a near-masterpiece spoiled by three consecutive walks in a hitless, two-run fifth inning.
"He was just looking like he was trying to throw a strike and sometimes that's the worst thing you can do," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He threw a lot of pitches in the first inning [29], they kept fouling pitches off. But overall, to me, he passed the test for his first competition for him since the [strained groin] problem."
Cory Wade, Hong-Chih Kuo and Jonathan Broxton finished off the last three innings, Broxton striking out two while recording his second save in three games and Kuo pitching a clean eighth inning after walking a pair on Opening Day.
"Broxton is a very important guy we're going to count on in winning games," Torre said. "To get a couple under his belt is really important. And tonight I thought Kuo was a lot sharper."
The Dodgers welcomed San Diego starter Walter Silva to the Major Leagues after a seven-year apprenticeship in the Mexican League with runs in the first two innings, a Furcal double cashed in with a Ramirez groundout in the first and a Casey Blake solo home run in the second.
The Dodgers had baserunners the next four innings without scoring and left 10 runners on base in the game. The top three in the order -- Furcal, Hudson and Ramirez -- went 6-for-14 with four runs scored.
"We had the lead and had opportunities to score and didn't do it, and you look up and see they've only got two or three hits and we felt we needed to win the game," Torre said. "Manny hit that ball hard. It was an important hit for us."
Billingsley cruised through the first four innings scoreless, then suddenly couldn't throw a strike in the bottom of the fifth, walking the bases loaded to lead off the fifth inning. The Padres could only tie the game without the aid of a hit.
Two key plays kept the bottom of the fifth inning from spinning out of control. Jody Gerut impatiently swung at Billingsley's first pitch after the three walks and bounced into a forceout as one run scored. David Eckstein followed with a sacrifice fly, but Loney raced across the diamond to cut off center fielder Matt Kemp's throw and ran down Gerut trying to tag to second base.
"I just started aiming the ball and it got in my head," Billingsley said. "I was trying to do too much instead of like the previous innings. It was like, I know how to throw a strike. Do it. I just couldn't find a rhythm.
"[Gerut] swinging at the first pitch was awesome to get the ground ball. Then James cutting the ball off and getting the guy advancing to second, it was huge to only give up two runs with the bases loaded and nobody out. I was relieved."
Loney went 2-for-5, his batting average actually dropping to .500, but catcher Russell Martin went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is 1-for-11 with five strikeouts. He also jammed his left hand sliding headfirst into the foot of shortstop Everth Cabrera when caught trying to steal second after walking in the sixth inning, but he played the entire game.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
