Phillies Crash Dodgers’ Party

Russell Martin stood in front of his locker at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, wearing a smile and ... well, what is that on your face?

“How do you like my mustache?” he said.

He did not have a mustache. He did have a brownish stain between his nose and his upper lip. He still had his sense of humor, and his good health, and for that the Dodgers were grateful. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4, but they did not lose their catcher to injury in the wake of a bruising collision at home plate.

Chase Utley doubled in the tiebreaking run and scored another in the eighth inning, when the Phillies roughed up Joe Beimel for three runs. Utley himself roughed up Martin, a collision Beimel termed “a little uncalled for.”

Hong-Chih Kuo relieved Beimel and hit Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino with his first pitch, but Kuo and Dodgers Manager Grady Little said there was no intent to retaliate.

With the score tied, 3-3, the Dodgers summoned Beimel to start the eighth inning. Jimmy Rollins led off with a double, and Utley doubled him home. Bobby Abreu then singled Utley to third.

Ryan Howard hit a grounder toward first baseman Olmedo Saenz, who charged, then threw home. Martin had the plate blocked, but he pulled away to catch the throw, which was up the first-base line. By then, Utley was into a headlong dive and shoulder roll, and replays showed him honing in on Martin, not the plate.

“I was a little upset,” Beimel said. “I know he was playing aggressively, but Russ wasn’t anywhere near blocking the plate. He’s playing hard, and that’s the way he plays the game, but I’m looking at it as Russ is one of my teammates, and I thought it was a little uncalled for.”

Little said he did not consider it a dirty play. Neither did Martin, who said Utley could not have changed course in a split second.

“As soon as the throw pulled me off, he’s already starting his momentum toward hitting me,” Martin said. “You can’t really stop. He probably could have hit me harder if he wanted to.”

Utley knocked Martin over, then touched the plate. After Aaron Rowand sacrificed, Kuo replaced Beimel. On his first delivery, Kuo hit Victorino with a pitch Kuo said was simply thrown too far inside.

“I never thought it was intentional,” Victorino said. “If it was retaliation, what can I say? That’s how the game goes. I thought Chase’s play at home plate was clean.”

Aaron Sele delivered another quality start for the Dodgers, and here’s a statistic for you: He is the only National League pitcher to make at least five starts and deliver a quality start each time, according to Stats LLC. If the Dodgers had any idea that would happen, they could have kept Duaner Sanchez, who was traded to the New York Mets for Jae Seo, recently demoted from the Dodgers rotation.

Sele gave up two earned runs in six innings, striking out a season-high six and retiring 11 consecutive batters at one point. He left in the seventh with the Dodgers trailing, 3-2. The Dodgers tied the score with two out in the bottom of the inning, on one of Kenny Lofton’s three singles, then loaded the bases for rookie Matt Kemp.

On the first pitch, Kemp dribbled a ground ball back to the mound.

“Had he given himself a chance to look at a pitch or two, we might have gotten different results,” Little said. “He was a little anxious there.”

Martin left the ballpark none the worse for wear. He got hit hard, falling onto his mask and a bat as he crashed to the ground, with Utley falling on top of him.

That stain on his face? “Some stuff,” Martin said, to treat “just a little scratch.”