Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers after getting their magic number down to zero after winning on Thursday evening against their division rival, Arizona Cardinals. The Dodgers won 7-6 after huge production from key hitters in their lineup. With the victory and the clinch, the Dodgers are the first team to officially make the playoffs in 2013.
Hanley Ramirez will play in his first playoff games after helping his team win. After so many years of criticism and failure, Ramirez made sure to power his club into the postseason. Ramirez hit two key home runs, going 2-5 with four RBI and two runs scored. He got the offense going in the third inning with a three-run bomb scoring Ricky Nolasco and Jerry Hairston.
However, it was A.J. Ellis' solo home run in the eighth inning that made the true difference as the game. He belted a shot to left field, giving the Dodgers the definite 7-6 lead. The Dodgers then relied on Kenley Jansen to close out the game. He struck out Paul Goldschmidt, Martin Prado and Aaron Hill line the third pitch of his at-bat left field for final out of the game.
Early on, it looked as though the Dodgers were going to need an extra couple of days to possibly clinch. They placed a six-spot on the board in the third inning, Ricky Nolasco was pounded for six earned runs over five innings pitched. He did not walk anybody and recorded five strikeouts, but he surrendered nine hits. The Diamondbacks did not hesitate to take advantage of the runners as A.J. Pollock, Geraldo Parra and Prado all finished with two hits in the night. Heck, even pitcher Wade Miley added a single and two RBI.
The Dodgers can now work their pitching rotation in a way that would allow them to have Clayton Kershaw pitch Game 1 of the series. The Dodgers' chances in the first round are looking beautiful as they have a stack of aces in their rotation. Kershaw can be followed up by either Zack Greinke or Hyun-Jin Ryu. Not to mention Nolasco, who has been fairly consistent throughout the year.
Next up for the Dodgers, they travel to San Diego to face the red hot Padres.
