The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres in the rubber-match last night, 3-2. Both teams are currently tied for first-place with 4-2 records in the 2008 Regular Season. If the Dodgers win tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers will claim First-Place in the National League West.

Derek Lowe made a stellar performance on the mound, but did not capture the win for the Dodgers. The former-Red Sox pitched six full innings, striking out six unlucky batters. Giving up only run in the outing, the pitcher's Earned-Run Average dropped to 2.25.

Juan Pierre started in Left-Field, as Joe Torre decided to sit Matt Kemp. It is understandable that Los Angeles wants to earn the most of out of their multi-million dollar contract with Pierre, but they should focus on winning. Hopefully, Torre will realize that he must put the best team onto the field and disregard the fact that some of their worst players are chewing away at their wallets.

Andre Ethier whacked his first home-run of the Regular Season off of the Padres' Chris Young. The Fantasy Baseball 2008 Guide, a reputable fantasy baseball projections magazine, predicts that the slugger will smash only 15 home-runs in 2008. But, if Andre Ethier continues the rest of 2008 Regular Season on pace, he will finish with 27 home-runs and 81 RBIs.

The star of yesterday's game was Chin-Lung Hu. The spectacular rookie knocked in the winning run on an RBI-single during the ninth inning off of Trevor Hoffman. You can't sink a team's battleship in a more heroic and memorable fashion than demolishing their team captain.

Takashi Saito was credited with his first save of the Regular Season, pitching a perfect frame. The Dodgers' bullpen has been terrific thus far. Hopefully, they'll be able to capitalize against the Arizona Diamondbacks since Los Angeles will be starting pitchers from the back-end of their rotation in the upcoming series.

-This Post is originally from my other Dodgers' blog at http://dodgersblog.mlblogs.com/archives/2008/04/dodgers_win_the_rubbermatch.html