Giants, Zito, Posey Eliminate Dodgers From Playoff Contention

MVP Candidate Buster Posey

Barry Zito , Buster Posey and that San Francisco Giants eliminated the Los Angeles Dodgers from playoff contention Tuesday night with a 4-3 win. The loss left the Dodgers two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals with one game left to play.

Zito turned in six solid innings allowing two earned runs, walking one and striking out six and Posey hit his 24th home run of the season to back the effort. Zito (15-8) continued a torrid stretch in which the Giants have won in his past 11 outings and Zito is 7-0 in that stretch. Sergio Romo got three outs in the ninth to earn his 14th save in 15 chances

Marco Scutaro added two hits and two RBI for the Giants. Posey finished 2-for-4  and strengthened his National League MVP candidacy. Posey is hitting 337/.410/.551 with 24 home runs and 102 RBI.

Barring a catastrophe Posey will become the seventh batting champion in Giants history and the first catcher to lead the National League in hitting since Ernie Lombardi did it in 1942.

Meanwhile,the Dodgers who added  first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pitcher Josh Beckett, infielder Hanley Ramirez and outfielder Shane Victorino in July trades will finish the season knowing that an opportunity was lost. “Everything kind of comes to a screeching halt,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “To not have that opportunity to move forward is painful. The acquisitions the Dodgers made did not produce as expected.