Dodger Nation was buzzing all day leading up to tonight’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Blue Crew had picked up Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox earlier, and really didn’t have to give much up to do it. Leave it to Brandon Webb to quell that buzz.

The Diamondbacks’ right-hander scattered 6 hits and allowed only one run over 8 innings on the way to his major league-leading 15th win as the Snakes took down the Dodgers 2-1.

L.A. struck first in the 6th when Juan Pierre scored on Russell Martin’s ground out. The Diamondbacks answered with 2 runs in the 7th when Mark Reynolds doubled in Conor Jackson, and Chris Snyder’s single scored Reynolds. That’s all Webb would need…although things did get a bit hairy in the 8th inning. With runners on second and third with one out, the Dodgers’ leading home run hitter, Matt Kemp came to the plate. Kemp hit a line drive to left, which was snared by Jackson, who then threw home. The throw was off-line, but Snyder went to his left to catch the ball and lunged toward the plate, tagging out Andre Ethier and ending the Dodgers’ threat.

Brandon Lyon allowed a hit in the 9th, but got Andruw Jones to line out to Jackson to end the game. Which begs the question- why send Andruw Jones to the plate when he is representing the winning run with 2 outs in the 9th? I know Jones at one time was a clutch hitter, and as recently as two years ago had 41 homers and 129 runs batted in. But now he’s a shell of a shadow of his former self. Andruw Jones should wear a ski mask to the ballgame every day, because he is doing nothing at this point but stealing money from the Dodgers’ organization. Joe Torre is well-respected, and for good reason, but c’mon Joe, you gotta try to win the ballgame! Andruw Jones has 13 rbis more than me this season. Wasn’t Jeff Kent on the bench? By the way, Lyon picked up his 23rd save on the night.

The win stretches the Diamondbacks’ lead in the NL West back to 2 games, as they brace for the start of the Manny Ramirez era in Los Angeles.

MLB.com : Recap | Boxscore

Here’s what others are saying about the Diamondbacks’ triumph in Los Angeles…

Webb pitches D-Backs past Dodgers [Azcentral.com]

D-Backs’ Webb continues domination of Dodgers [East Valley Trib/AP]

Arizona tops Dodgers as Webb outduels Lowe [Los Angeles Times]

A battle of left-handers will highlight Friday’s game, well that and the appearance of some Manny guy. Randy Johnson and his 292 career wins will take on the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and his 1 career win. First pitch is at 7:40 PM.

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