(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Payback was the order of the weekend as the Los Angeles Dodgers traveled to Anaheim to face the last team to win a series from them, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim—who feel the need to carry the LA brand, even though they aren't in the same county, much less city.
The Dodgers won the last two games of the series after blowing a 4-1 lead in the opener, to level the 2009 Freeway Series at three games apiece. That will be the final total for this season, unless the teams were to meet again in the Fall Classic.
Los Angeles (the real ones) pushed their record to 46-24, a season high 22 games above .500, retain their three and one-half game advantage over Boston for the best record in the Majors, and eight game advantage over second place San Francisco in the National League West.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles/Anaheim (the artificial ones) saw their record dip to 36-31 and remain one-half game behind Texas for the American League Western lead.
A small measure of payback was also applied on behalf of the Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who has been tortured by the Angels and their manager, long time Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia, who's Anaheim-based club was the only one to hold an advantage over the Torre era Yankee teams.
In a series where the first game was decided by a single run and the balance were decided by two runs each, coming through in the clutch is key. The Dodgers were 8-for-30 with runners in scoring position and stranded 28 runners. Meanwhile, the Angels went 6-for-29 and left 23 runners over the weekend.
The Dodgers racked up a total of 33 hits, 12 each in the last two games. Power-wise, they cracked four homers, two by James Loney to double his season total, one by Rafael Furcal, and Russell Martin finally opened his account for the season by hitting his first. Orlando Hudson and Juan Pierre each stroked two doubles in one game—Hudson on Friday and Pierre on Sunday—and Andre Ethier belted his first triple of the season on Saturday.
The Angels collected 24 hits, eight each game of the series. They drilled three home runs, Juan Rivera's game winner on Friday while Kendry Morales and Gary Matthews Jr. both went deep on Saturday. Morales, Chone Figgins, and Torii Hunter each collected a double over the weekend while Figgins tripled for the fourth time this season Saturday.
Dodger hitters struck out 21 times while garnering 14 walks, the Angels were punched out 22 times and drew 15 passes. Defensively, the Dodgers committed one error in each game while the Angels went the whole weekend without a fielding miscue.
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