Dodgers’ Greinke takes matters into his own hands

While he was far from that on Thursday, he did show proficiency with the bat in the Dodgers’ slugging victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The way they’re playing is another matter.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Zack Greinke’s hitting outshined his pitching.

In case the pressure wasn’t evident, the San Francisco Giants had already beaten the Atlanta Braves by the time Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen took over in the ninth inning – a score that shone brightly into the visitors’ dugout from the right-field scoreboard. He’s only struck out five more batters than he’s walked this season, so (notice the common theme of this series), the Dodgers SHOULD be able to beat up on him.

He didn’t look like himself, especially to start, as the five runs he gave up in the first inning came before he even recorded an out. Prior to him, the Phillies had Desi Relaford, Alex Arias, Mike Benjamin, Kevin Elster, Juan Bell, Wilson Valdez, Roger Cedeno, Ivan DeJesus, Kevin Stocker and Bobby Wine play the position for only a year or two.

“Domonic Brown is swinging good now, and really, it’s a tough [top five]”, Greinke said. “It doesn’t seem to get a whole lot better”. “The home run (by Brown) allowed me to reset”.

“He should”, Mattingly said. Just how surprising was the first-inning explosion? If you’re going to go to third there, you’re going to be sure. “You put yourself in a hole when you fall behind in the count”. That was an exciting time of growth for Phillies baseball… and by the way, this current group of mostly young survivors of the purge have won 13 of 16 games since the All-Star break. The Phillies got a run back in the third on Maikel Franco’s RBI double. Howard followed with a single, putting runners on the corners. He spent six years at the Orange County Register, and began his career at the Oakland Tribune, where he started an 11-year journey covering Major League Baseball. Greinke recorded the third longest scoreless streak in Dodgers history of 45.2 innings over that span, and has not allowed six runs in a game since 2012 when he was with the Angels. He touched 95 miles per hour on the radar gun with his fastball, something he’s done in only four games this season.

Without Greinke, who knows where the Dodgers would be. Will Harris got three outs for his first major league save. His batting average is down to. He’s very realistic what kind of pitcher he is. In Greinke’s previous eight starts, he had allowed just four runs over 58 2/3 innings, including eight innings of one-hit ball against the Phillies on July 9.As Greinke struggled uncharacteristically Thursday, Los Angeles battered Philadelphia starter David Buchanan (2-6), scoring three more runs in the second and another in the third to give the Dodgers’ ace a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.The Dodgers quickly countered the Phillies’ early punch when first baseman Adrian Gonzalez clobbered a three-run home run in the second inning – his 22nd homer of the season.Greinke then helped his cause in the ensuing frame, with a solo homer to left-center field that cushioned Los Angeles’ lead to 7-5. While he’s hitting just.252/.296/.364 on the season, the 27-year-old outfielder has been swinging a hot bat of late, with three homers and 13 RBI in his last nine games.

The Dodgers got a necessary insurance run in the fifth inning. Drew Butera led off with a homer, and Kendrys Morales had a two-run double.