Dodgers Win! Dodgers Win! Dodgers Win! Could be the pixie dust

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I’m sure when Joe Torre slept on Saturday he dreamed of a fast, strong start by the offense and solid starting pitching. That’s exactly what he got on this crisp Sunday evening, a rough-and-tumble, bruising game that finished with the Dodgers up 7-2.

There will be much talk between now and Game 4 about how the Dodgers have lost that brotherly feeling for their Philadelphia opponents. After tonight’s near fisticuffs, tempers will stir and boil until this series is over. Every inside pitch will be dissected in a great search for meaning –- was that fastball that buckled the batters’ knees intentionally sent, or was it just a mistake?

Don’t let all that talk lead you away from the fact that this game was won because of starting pitching and the aggressive way the home team came out of the box.

First the offense. The Dodgers hit the ball well in this game, most of their good fortune coming early with that cascade of first-inning singles that were topped off by the DeWitt triple and five runs. Now, can they take that same formula, bottle it and let it flow in Game 4? Will they be able to work that kind of magic against a starting pitcher much younger than Jamie Moyer, who in his mid-40s can still flash effective pitching but sometimes gets lit up by opponents so badly he seems like a Model-T in a race of Maseratis?

There are many ways to win a baseball game, of course. It could be that the winning team in Game 4 is the one that breaks a scoreless tie in the 10th inning. But if you’re the Dodgers, now down 2-1 in the series, with a portion of the momentum squarely back in your corner, you don’t want to go there. Too rough on the nerves. Too dicey. What they’d give for another barrage of runs in the first three to five innings next time out.

And what they’d give for another pitching performance like the one they got from Kuroda, who threw a wet blanket on Philadelphia’s offensive swagger. He lasted just over six innings, gave up six hits and limited the Phillies to two runs. Kuroda also made a statement by pitching inside when he had to and even sailed a first inning ball to the backstop. I’m no mind reader, but you are not going to convince me those pitches weren’t intentionally sent to set a tone and tell the Phillies that these Dodgers aren’t the laid-back team from Chavez Ravine of the last few years. These Dodgers aren’t going to take Russell Martin being thrown at like he was tonight, and they aren’t going to back down until this long battle is done.

So now we play Game 4 tomorrow with the Dodgers’ Derek Lowe taking the mound against Philadelphia’s Joe Blanton. Pitching will probably make all the difference, as usual. The Dodgers’ starter must keep his sinker down in the strike zone against the free-swinging Phillies, a team susceptible to the tempting waffle-balls that Lowe throws so masterfully when he is on his game.

The Dodgers will be at the precipice tomorrow, as they were today. A loss puts them in an ugly spot: Down 3-1 to an angry team like the Phillies would be a death-knell. Hard to imagine the East Coasters stepping off the Dodgers’ necks if they end up that close to taking the series. A win, of course, and this thing isn’t just a toss-up, it’s tilting strongly the Dodgers’ way. So everyone will be on edge tomorrow: the players and managers, particularly after those tight pitches and the near scrum; the fans, who, bless them, have filled Chavez Ravine with a special energy and an electric vibe not seen in a long while in these parts.

As I write this sentence it’s 20 minutes after the last pitch and there are still swarms of people milling around, not wanting to leave their seats, many of them chanting, “Phillies Suck!” Hold on a minute, this is L.A., home of the quick, early exit and the sit-on-the-hands-and-hope-to-be-seen-by-an-agent fans? What in the world is going on? Did Frank McCourt put something in the water? Or is it just Manny Magic, sprinkled around the old stadium on the hilltop near downtown like pixie dust? How long can this last?

-- Kurt Streeter