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Ramirez, Blake look to stay hot vs. Phillies

Aug 13, 2008 - 10:07 AM Philadelphia (64-55) at La Dodgers (60-59) 10:10 pm. EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake are helping the Los Angeles Dodgers' challenged offense tremendously. The duo will look to continue their hot hitting on Wednesday when the Dodgers meet the Philadelphia Phillies.

Los Angeles (60-59), which trails Arizona (61-58) by one game in the National League East, acquired Ramirez and Blake in separate deals to bolster one of the worst offenses in baseball. So far, so good.

Blake drove in a pair of runs Tuesday before Andre Ethier's walk-off single propelled the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory. Blake is hitting 297 with three homers, nine RBI in 17 games since being acquired from Cleveland. Meanwhile, Ramirez is hitting .476 with four homers and 14 RBI in 11 games since coming over from Boston.

Blake and Ramirez will try and solve Joe Blanton (1-0, 3.27 ERA), who is starting to find his groove. Blanton went winless with a 7.88 ERA in his first two starts since coming over in a trade from Oakland, but is 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA in his last two starts. The hefty righthander allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings of a 2-0, 12-inning loss to Pittsburgh on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have lost four of six and lead the New York Mets (63-56) by one game in the National League East. They face Brad Penny (6-9, 5.66), who returned from the disabled list on Friday and allowed one run and one hit in five innings of a 6-2 victory over San Francisco. Penny had been out since June 14 with tendinitis in his throwing shoulder.