Friday, May 15, 2009
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Martin's double in 10th lifts L.A. over Phillies 5-3

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[May 15, 2009]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Russell Martin hit a tiebreaking double in the 10th inning and Matt Kemp followed with an RBI double to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 Thursday.

HardwareChad Durbin (1-1) retired the first two batters, then walked Andre Ethier. Martin doubled for a 4-3 lead and after an intentional walk, Kemp delivered.

The Dodgers, minus the suspended Manny Ramirez, won two of three in a rematch of the NL championship series.

Jonathan Broxton (4-0) earned the win despite blowing a two-run lead with two outs in the ninth. Ramon Troncoso pitched a scoreless 10th to earn his second save, striking out Ryan Howard with a runner on to end it.

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The Phillies wrecked a strong outing from Chad Billingsley with a two-out, two-run rally in the ninth against Broxton that made it 3-all.

Broxton struck out the first two batters, then allowed a single and a walk. Manager Joe Torre walked to the mound to visit his closer, then Carlos Ruiz doubled to right to score the runners and send the crowd into a frenzy.

The Dodgers won for the third time in seven games since Ramirez was penalized 50 games for using a banned drug. The Dodgers have the best record in the NL at 24-12 and are off to Florida for a series with the Marlins.

Torre said there was a chance Ramirez could appear in Miami to talk to his teammates.

Billingsley struck out nine, gave up three hits in seven strong innings and was set to become the NL's first six-game winner until the bullpen failed him.

Billingsley survived a sloppy fifth when he committed an error, as did his catcher, Martin. With runners at the corners and one out, Billingsley struck out Shane Victorino swinging and Ruiz was tagged out in a rundown between third and home to end the rally.

Jimmy Rollins, back at the top of the Phillies' lineup after a two-game stint in the No. 5 hole, opened the game with a double and scored on Howard's sacrifice fly. The Phillies could do little else against Billingsley.

Making his first start against the Dodgers since Game 5 of the NLCS, Cole Hamels returned to his postseason form and pitched seven solid innings. He's already had a sore left elbow, bruised left shoulder and sprained left ankle that led to a shaky first month of the season.

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The MVP of the World Series and NLCS ran into more bad luck in the third, this time on the field. Casey Blake was on second with a double when Rafael Furcal hit a hard grounder to shortstop that Rollins tried to backhand. The ball knocked off the heel of his glove for an error and an unearned run that tied the score at 1.

Hamels struck out nine over seven innings.

James Loney hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh. Brad Lidge continued to scuffle and allowed Blake's sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 3-1.

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Notes: The Phillies and Dodgers are the only two teams in baseball with five players with 20 RBIs each. ... The Phillies went 2-4 on their six-game homestand. ... The Phillies will visit with President Barack Obama on Friday before they play the Nationals. They will be honored for their 2008 World Series championship.

[Associated Press; By DAN GELSTON]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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