LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers are too busy trying to win a division to sit around and marvel at the greatness of Greg Maddux.
They'll leave that, for now, to the fans.
Those who attended Wednesday night's 7-3 Dodgers victory over the Reds not only saw the team's win streak extended to five and win total (71) match all of last season with a month to go, they saw Maddux remain unbeaten since his acquisition July 31.
They saw the veteran nudge past Steve Carlton and into 10th place on the all-time win list with 330, and they saw him empty his entire bag of tricks to do it.
Without breaking 86 mph on the radar gun, the 40-year-old went seven innings with an efficient 77 pitches, easing the strain on a bullpen beleaguered from two marathons within five days, coming up with a clutch performance as might be expected from a four-time Cy Young Award winner.
He showed how he won 15 Gold Glove awards, starting two double plays and racing to take a desperate flip from Nomar Garciaparra while beating pinch-hitter Javier Valentin to first base, earning one in a series of standing ovations.
"You sit there and wonder how many of those wins came from his fielding," said manager Grady Little. "You can't say enough about the guy."
Maddux also was a magician with the bat, singling in the first run and hustling to second on the throw home, then perfectly squeezing home the fourth run.
Maddux is 12-11 overall this year, 5-0 against the Reds, 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA as a Dodger. Since the deadline trade that brought Maddux to the Dodgers, they are 21-7, setting a Los Angeles franchise record for August wins. The month began and ended with three-game sweeps of the Reds.
Maddux, coming off a five-inning start in Arizona, knew what was needed after Tuesday night's 16-inning marathon fried the pitching staff.
"I just didn't want to get knocked out early," he said. "Not that you ever do, but you're aware of the last couple of days that the bullpen's been throwing a lot. It was nice to make sure at least I got to the fifth."
He kept the Reds scoreless those first five innings, served up a home run that snapped Jason LaRue's 0-for-30 slump leading off the sixth inning and allowed three consecutive hits and a run in the seventh.
By then, the Dodgers already held a 4-2 lead and Maddux contributed to half the runs. He singled home Andre Ethier in the second inning and squeezed home Wilson Betemit in the sixth. In between, Russell Martin singled in one run and J.D. Drew tripled in another when Ken Griffey Jr. misplayed his sinking line drive. Drew was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park home run.
In the eighth, the Dodgers uncharacteristically blew the game open with three home runs by Betemit, Olmedo Saenz and Rafael Furcal.
Little was more impressed with the little things, so to speak.
"It's more satisfying executing the other areas of the offense," he said. "We don't bank on the home runs."
The offense was nice, Maddux said, but it's the Dodgers defense (12th in the league by fielding percentage) that has impressed him.
"The defense here is really good," he said. "Any time you make the plays, you have a chance to win close games. That's how you stay out of the big innings. This team catches the ball as well as any team in baseball. I don't care what the numbers say. The guys here cover ground and make the plays."
Maddux complimented Garciaparra on the play that put down the seventh inning, with runners on first and second and two outs. Valentin smoked a liner that appeared headed toward right field and would've cut the Dodgers' lead to one.
Garciaparra made a backhand lunge to knock down the ball, grabbed it and completely left the ground to get enough power behind his underhand flip to get it to first base.
Maddux broke off the mound at the crack of the bat, and on the dead run, caught Garciaparra's flip and stepped on the bag. The double-play comebackers started by Maddux came in the second and fourth innings, the first hit by Scott Hatteberg, the other by Griffey.
With the victory, the Dodgers take a three-game lead over San Diego into September. Since they moved to Los Angeles, the only time the Dodgers have led on Sept. 1 by as many as three games and not finished in sole possession of first place was 1962, when they finished in a tie with the Giants and went on to lose
SEATTLE -- August has not been a kind month for John Lackey.
In his first five starts through the stretch on the calendar that officially marks the dog days of summer, Lackey couldn't find a way to win and most of the time, he didn't deserve it.
But with a trip to the mound for one last time in August on Wednesday night, Lackey was neither sensational nor bad, but he was just good enough to notch his first win of the month and keep the Angels' dimming hopes in the American League West alive with a 5-3 victory over the Mariners.
Howie Kendrick went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI doubles, while Garret Anderson went 2-for-4 and hit a game-tying solo homer as the Angels rallied to take the lead in the sixth.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and helped the Angels remain 7 1/2 games back of the A's, who completed a sweep of the Red Sox on Wednesday. It was the first time in three days the Angels did not lose ground in the division.
"We can probably talk about every win as being important, but after losing three in a row, we have to be as aggressive as we can be," manager Mike Scioscia said.
The Angels now head to Detroit for a three-game series that will open the month of September, a period that has seen the Angels play some of their best baseball in the last two years, something the club will need to repeat if they hope to keep the A's within reach before the last 10 games of the season, during which they play Oakland seven more times.
"They're definitely good; they're making it tough on us," Lackey said. "We've got to win. We don't want to get in a situation where we have to win all seven. We have to get closer than that."
Getting Lackey back into form will be critical for the Angels to make the stretch drive important. The club is without Bartolo Colon for the rest of the season and will be calling on a pair of rookies, Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders, to log more innings than they have in their young careers, while doing it in the pressure of a race.
What they need is the Lackey of July, when he was named pitcher of the month in the AL by going 5-1 and running a scoreless-innings streak to 30 2/3. He tossed two shutouts in that stretch and nearly threw a perfect game against the A's, allowing a leadoff double to Mark Kotsay before recording 27 straight outs.
On Wednesday, Lackey was facing a club that he hadn't defeated this season, losing both starts to the Mariners while allowing 22 earned runs against a lineup that seemed increasingly comfortable in the batter's box. But Lackey made adjustments in his delivery out of the stretch, and it paid off as he located his fastball and found a breaking ball that was sharper than his past outings.
"I was motivated mostly because we needed the win," Lackey said. "We had lost a few games in a row, and I wanted to be the guy to win."
Lackey (11-9) allowed three runs on nine hits and a couple of hit batters over 6 1/3 innings to not only pick up his first win over the Mariners this year but also give the Angels the season-series victory, 10-9.
Former Angels left-hander Jake Woods (4-2) allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts over five-plus innings to take the loss, while Francisco Rodriguez earned his 37th save.
"They're all key wins; we haven't been playing well," Anderson said.
The Mariners scored in the bottom of the third when Yuniesky Betancourt tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a squeeze bunt laid down by Chris Snelling to forge a 1-0 lead.
The Angels tied the scored in the top of the fourth when Juan Rivera scored on a double-play ball and took the lead when Tim Salmon doubled down the right-field line and scored on a double by Kendrick.
The Mariners reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Richie Sexson walked with one out and Ben Broussard followed with a single to right. Kenji Johjima then doubled home Sexson, and Broussard scored on a single to right by Jose Lopez.
Right fielder Vladimir Guerrero made a strong throw home, but Broussard knocked the ball out of catcher Mike Napoli's glove to score. Johjima also tried to score but Napoli fed Lackey, who applied the tag for the out.
Anderson led off the sixth with a homer to right off Woods. Robb Quinlan then doubled and scored on Kendrick's double to right as the Angels took a 4-3 lead. Guerrero doubled and scored on an RBI single by Rivera in the seventh.
It was the seventh home run in the last 22 games for Anderson, who had just four homers from May-July. Scioscia said he thinks his left fielder is finally feeling healthy, but Anderson didn't want to address that.
"I just try to hit the ball hard," Anderson said. "I don't try to hit home runs."
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