"If the Dodgers were trying to make their fans forget about Manny Ramirez, they picked the right guy to do it.

Hiroki Kuroda pitched 7 1/3 innings of no-hit ball and picked up his first hit of the season in the Dodgers' 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

Shane Victorino got the Phillies' only hit, a line-drive single to right, prompting the crowd of 44,896 to give Kuroda a standing ovation.

If Ramirez's fans were looking for a new hero, now that the slugging outfielder is a member of the Chicago White Sox, they might have found one.

Kuroda was pulled after 7 2/3 innings, and Hong-Chih Kuo retired the final four batters for his seventh save.

"I was hoping he was going to get it," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of the no-hitter. "He looked like he got a little edgy at the end but I still thought he was going to get it."

He wasn't alone.

"I thought this was finally going to be the one," said catcher Rod Barajas, who drove in the Dodgers' final run with a solo home run in the fifth inning. "I've caught quite a few one-hitters and I thought this one was going to be the one.

"With the stuff he had, the movement, the velocity, location with his pitches, I thought that (Monday) would be that special night."

Kuroda likened Monday's outing with one he had in 2008, when he threw a one-hitter against Atlanta. He admitted his mental approach was a little different this time around.

"Two years ago I didn't think that I would be able to make such an achievement, so every time I went to the mound I was doubting myself," he said through a translator. "(Monday) I trusted myself and I said to myself, `I'm a great pitcher. I'm a great pitcher."'

The Phillies didn't have room to argue with Kuroda's latest self-assessment.

Kuroda's only blemish during the first five innings came in the second when he hit Jayson Werth with a pitch. He walked Carlos Ruiz in the sixth inning but didn't get into any real trouble until the eighth.

Werth drew a leadoff walk but was forced out at second base on a grounder by Raul Ibanez. That's when Victorino got the Phillies' only hit. Kuroda faced only one other batter, a strikeout of Ruiz with his 102nd pitch of the game, before giving way to Kuo. "