Dodger second baseman Mark Ellis gets high-fives at the plate after a three-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday in New York, his second round-tripper of the game.

A couple of nights ago, my husband said to me, “You know who I really like as a baseball player? Mark Ellis. He works hard, he’s a no-nonsense, reliable player. I like that.” Now, thanks to Ellis’ power hitting, the Dodgers are inching their way back toward .500 tonight.

The second baseman hit two home runs — the first was the 100th of his career — and had 10 total bases as he went four-for-five to lead my favorite team to a second win in a row, 7-2, over the Mets.

With 12 hits — five for extra bases — everybody, except Carl Crawford, was hitting tonight, and Crawford can have one day without a hit, since he’s been carrying the Dodgers offensively this whole season so far.

Jeez, I wish they could play every day like they have the past two games! It’s so much more fun to watch them win and play well than to see them lose and then find yourself complaining about something you have no control over. Or worse to have to defend your love of a team that hasn’t won a championship in 25 years.

But hey, at least we’re not Cubs fans! Am I right? Huh? Yeah!

Winning’s contagious and so is losing. And this is not something you want to stay in the habit of doing.”
— Dodger right fielder Andre Ethier addresses the team’s dismal recent performances, on “Dodgers Live” before Sunday’s game

Let’s hope the way the Dodgers played today becomes an incurable disease!

There hasn’t been much high-fiving for these guys lately.

They hit when they needed to, came from behind after a shaky first inning by Stephen Fife (called up to replace the injured Chad Billingsley) and had defense up the wazoo, with special kudos to Mark Ellis who continues to dazzle at second base. For the first time this week, it was actually fun watching a Dodger game!

The 7-4 win in Baltimore stopped the Dodgers’ losing streak and meant they avoided a second consecutive sweep, which would really have been soul-crushing. Today, they looked like the team I love: the chemistry was there (like when new-guy Ramon Hernandez signaled to Kemp to slide to the outside of home plate when scoring from second on a single). Kemp was happy and excited, and had three hits for the second day in a row.

Nothing makes baseball more fun to watch than Matt Kemp’s smile.

So it’s on to New York, after a Monday of rest. Let’s hope the momentum makes the flight.

P.S. Right before the game, I changed the header on this blog to a photo of the team victorious. I think I’ll leave it, in case that had anything to do with it.