Editorials

Dodgers Playoff Moment: James Loney’s Grand Slam In 2008 NLDS

As James Loney and the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, we took a look at Loney’s biggest moment as a Dodger that gave them momentum needed to defeat the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 NLDS.

The Dodgers won the NL West with just 84 wins, while the Cubs were the heavy favorites after winning 97 games and having home field advantage.



The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning off Dodgers’ starter Derek Lowe and Cubs starter Ryan Dempster was cruising along at Wrigley Field.

However, in the 5th inning, Dempster walked the bases loaded with two outs. Loney came up and was down 1-2 in the count before hitting Dempster’s next offering over the center field wall for a grand slam and gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.

Lowe wouldn’t allow another run in six innings of work and the Dodgers offense tacked on insurance runs in three straight innings by way of home runs by Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin and a Casey Blake RBI single.

The NL West champions won the game 7-2 and would go on to sweep the series and advance to the NLCS.

Here’s a look at the Loney grand slam that proved to be the turning point in the game and the series:

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

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