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Even at age 39, Jeff Kent remains one of the Dodgers' best players.  He'll probably end up with a spot in the Hall of Fame at some point, but his spot in Cooperstown will be earned with his bat and even his glove, but not his legs. 

On Wednesday afternoon in steamy Dodger Stadium, Kent used his legs to score the winning run in the Dodgers' 10-9 12 inning win over the Washington Nationals.  The win was the Dodgers' fourth in a row and sent them off on their ten game road trip to San Diego, Chicago and San Francisco on a high note.

YESTERDAY'S DIFFERENCE MAKERS

3) Scott Proctor- The righty threw three shutout innings, allowing only one hit, to earn his third win of the year in a Dodger uniform. 

2) Shea Hillenbrand- His sacrifice fly in the 12th won the game, and his two run homer in the sixth helped bring the Dodgers back from an 8-3 deficit to tie the game.

1) Kent- His hustle and great slide helped him score the game winner on Hillenbrand's sac fly, but he also did it with the bat and glove. He had four hits, including two doubles, and helped the Dodgers turn three double plays on the game.

AROUND THE HORN

On a day when Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre combined to go 1 for 12, the six (Russell Martin), seven (James Loney) and eight (Hillenbrand) hitters in the Dodger lineup had six hits, four runs scored and nine driven in.  Martin and Hillenbrand homered, and Loney's three run double got the Dodgers started in their five run sixth inning rally.

Washington's Robert Fick homered off of Mark Hendrickson on Wednesday, marking only the second time a left handed batter has homered against Hendrickson this year.  Ken Griffey Jr. hit the other southpaw homer against Hendrickson back on May 13th at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers on-base percentage plus slugging percentage season number of .736 is well below the league average of .751, but they looked like a different team on Wednesday.  Matt Kemp joined Martin and Hillenbrand as home run hitters in the game, and the Dodgers also had four doubles.

The win was the Dodgers' eighth in twelve extra-inning games on the year.  The Dodgers also won their 27th one run win of the season, a number that is second only to Arizona's 29 in the National League.

Run differential is often cited as a key indicator of a team's chances of success.  After Wednesday's, the Padres' plus .6 differential led the league, with the Braves at plus .5 and the Mets, Cubs and Rockies at plus .4.  The Dodgers plus .2 puts them seventh among the ten NL teams in playoff cotention.

Kent's four hit game was his sixth as a Dodger.  His two others in 2007 came on the road. He went 4 for 5 with a double and three RBI at Colorado on July 29th, and went 4 for 4 with two doubles and two RBI at Houston on July 23rd.  Both of his 2006 four hit games came at Dodger Stadium.  He had four hits, including two doubles and a homer, against San Diego on September 18th and went 4 for 7 with a homer and two RBI against the Reds on August 29th.  On June 5, 2005, Kent went 4 for 4 with two doubles and four RBI at Dodger Stadium against the Brewers.

DODGER FLASHBACK

Nineteen years ago today, Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser started a streak that would land him in the Major League record book.

At Olympic Stadium, Hershiser's two run double in the second helped stake the Dodgers to a 3-0 lead over the Expos. When the Dodgers scored another run in the fifth, which was helped along by a Hershiser sacrifice bunt, the team had a 4-0 lead.  Montreal scored two in the bottom of the innning to cut the Dodgers' lead in half, but then things really started to click for Hershiser.  He shut the Expos out over the final four innings to salt away a Dodger win, and embarked on a pitching journey that ultimately helped the Dodgers win the World Series title.

The numbers are mind boggling. Hershiser threw 59 straight scoreless innnings, winning six straight decisions.  Even more unbelievable is the realization that Hershiser was just a few runs away from putting together an even longer streak.  After he shut out the Expos at Dodger Stadium on August 19th, he had the Mets shut out through seven before giving up two eighth innning runs in a game the Dodgers would lose 2-1.  Combining those games with the games involved in the streak, Hershiser had a .044 ERA in 82 innings pitched with no home runs allowed.