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Dodgers again can’t sustain the momentum, fall 8-4 to the Phillies

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Well, that’s life. Anyway, that’s what all the baseball people say. The Dodgers can be riding high one night, shot down the next.

Win one, lose one. Win one, lose two. It’s a formula for fourth place.

The Dodgers have been searching for that elusive winning streak to propel them back into the playoff hunt for months. They’ve had one winning streak of more than four games the entire season. In the past six weeks alone, they’ve had two six-game losing streaks.

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So one night after Hiroki Kuroda lifted their spirits by taking a no-hitter into the eighth, they came back Tuesday and gave up a couple of early three-run bombs on the way to an 8-4 loss to the Phillies.

These would be the Phillies they are chasing for the National League wild-card berth. The loss dropped the Dodgers 6½ games back of the Phillies. They have 29 games to play.

Naturally, a three-game series at home against the Phillies would make this an excellent time to finally start putting together that winning streak.

A hard thing to do when your fill-in fifth starter, Carlos Monasterios, is giving up line drives all over the field and then a three-run homer to light-hitting Brian Schneider. He came into the night batting .206 with 10 RBIs.

The Dodgers picked up Monasterios, of course, is an off-season Rule 5 draft off the Phillies, via the Mets. On this night, the Phillies had to be thinking they hadn’t missed out on much.

Monasterios (3-5) lasted only two-plus innings, surrendering five runs on five hits.

He wasn’t helped out much when Ramon Troncoso continued his lost season, relieving Monasterios with two on in the third and promptly giving up a three-run homer to Ryan Howard.

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That made it a 6-1 Philadelphia lead. Even when the Dodgers mounted something of a rally against Philly starter Kyle Kendrick (9-7) by scoring one in the fifth with a pair of singles and a groundout, and then two more in the sixth on a James Loney homer, they could not maintain the momentum.

The Phillies came back in the seventh when George Sherrill walked the bases loaded. Ex-closer Jonathan Broxton came on and immediately gave up a two-run single to pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz.

The early exit by Monasterios puts the Dodgers in a tough situation for Wednesday’s noon game. The Dodgers went through five relievers Tuesday --six if you count Kenley Jansen’s successful pinch-hit single in the fifth. Starter Clayton Kershaw best be ready to pitch deep into the game.

-- Steve Dilbeck

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