Billingsley Puts the Game on His Shoulders
Chad Billingsley is used to the Los Angeles Dodgers offense not providing enough run support for him to win, as evidenced by 4 straight games where he gave up only 6 runs but only received 4 from his offense.
So, in the bottom of the 4th, when the San Francisco Giants walked Rod Barjas to load the bases for him, he came up big with a 2 run single to right field that barely missed the glove of right fielder Jose Guillen giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. After that, Billingsley shut down the Giants until the 8th inning, and didn’t allow a single base runner striking out 4.
Then Billingsly turned it over to Hung-Chih Kuo who has gotten used to his new closer role and has only given up a single run in the last 7 games after he blew the game open against the Braves, giving up 3 runs, shut down the Giants in the 9th preserving the lead.
Rod Barjas also hit his 4th home-run in his 8th game since joining the Dodgers, providing the other 2 runs with a blast in bottom of the 2nd that traveled an estimated 407 feet to left field.
The win brings the Dodges 8 behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the Wild Card and amazingly, they’re also 8 games behind the San Diego Padres, whom they meet next week for the National League West crown.
The Padres have lost 8 straight while their offense slumps and their young pitchers start to succumb to the long season.
Every win also brings them closer to the Giants who are 5 games ahead of the Dodgers, if they can win the next 2, they will be in prime position to challenge for the NL West lead.
Rafael Furcal Returns Today
Hola, I’m Back!
The player who was just as important as Manny Ramirez is back in the line up today.
The Los Angeles Dodgers score 4.5 runs per game (342 Runs in 76 Games) when Furcal is in the line up and 4.03 Runs per game when he’s not in the line up (235 in 58 games). Miraculously, even with that run deferential, the Dodgers are 35-23 with him in the line up, helped by a 9 game winning streak in May, and 33-33 with him in the line up.
Despite that, his return is a significant boost to the Dodgers, he has more range and a better arm at SS than Jamey Carroll, has more power and a better bat than Scott Podsednik and is a leader in the Dodgers club house. We may even see Furcal batting 3rd when Podsednik is in the line up, as he has a .366 batting average when runners are on base and hits .324 with runners in scoring position but has a .273 batting average when leading off an inning and .291 with no runners on base.
Upcoming Series: San Francisco Giants
Game 1: Friday, September 3rd, 7:10 PM PST
Chad Billingsley 3.73 (10-8) & Barry Zito 4.07 (8-10)
Billingsley is 1.0 with a 0.83 ERA against the Giants this season in 3 starts, along with his only complete game of the season.
Zito is 0-1 with a 1.93 ERA in 4 games versus the Dodgers this season and has a 1.84 ERA at Dodger stadium.
Game 2: Saturday, September 4th, 7:10 PM PST
Ted Lilly 3.59 (8-9) & Matt Cain 3.11 (10-10)
Ted Lilly has no starts against the Giants this season and is 5-1 with a 3.29 ERA in 6 starts since becoming a Dodger.
Matt Cain is 1-2 in 2 starts against the Dodgers this season with a 2.84 ERA and no starts at Dodger stadium.
Game 3: Sunday, September 5th, 5:00 PM PST
Hiroki Kuroda 3.39 (10-11) & Jonathan Sanchez 3.54 (9-8)
This is Kuroda’s first start against the Giants this season. He was 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA against them last season.
Sanchez has only 1 start against the Dodgers this season and is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 2 games.
Who’s
All stats are from August.
Andre Ethier
.305 4 HR’s 12 RBI’s 14 Runs
Rod Barjas
.400 3 HR’s 6 RBI’s in only 6 games after trade.
Ryan Theriot
.309 1 HR’s 8 RBI’s 18 Runs .374 OBP
Jamel Carroll
.322 0 HR’s 8 RBI’s 11 Runs .419 OBP
Kenly Jansen
0.84 ERA 15 SO’s 10.2 IP
Pablo Sandoval
.312 6 HR’s 16 RBI
Freddy Sanchez
.356 2 HR’s
Jose Guillen
.356 1 HR 5 RBI’s 14 Games.
Brian Wilson
12 Games 0.69 ERA 13 IP 7 Saves
Ramon Ramirez
15 Games 1.06 ERA in 17 IP
Javier Lopez
15 Games 1.35 ERA in 13.1 IP
Santiago Casilla
13 Games 1.53 ERA 17.2 IP
Who’s Not
Matt Kemp
.228 5 HR’s 17 RBI”s 9 Run’s
James Loney
.217 1 HR’s 13 RBI’s.
Jonathan Broxton
4.63 ERA 2-1 2 saves 11.2 IP
Ronald Belisario
14.09 ERA! 0-1 7.2 IP in 10 Games
Aubrey Huff
.224 2 HR’s 12 RBI
Juan Uribe
.213 2 HR’s 10 RBI
Aaron Rowand
.135 1 HR 1 RBI
Madison Bumgarner
6 Starts 1-1 5.29 ERA
Barry Zito
6 Starts 0-4 7.76 ERA
Tim Lincecum
5 Starts 0-5 7.82 ERA
Chris Ray
8 Games 1-0 10.13 ERA 5.1 IP
Guillermo Mota
9 Games 10.24 ERA 9.2 IP
1 Run Not Enough For Kershaw
Once again Clayton Kershaw pitched well enough to win, surrendering two runs in six innings of work, striking out 11.
Once again the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to give him any run support scoring only a single run, that run coming after Kershaw was out of the game and the game was well out of hand.
Once again the Dodgers failed to gain any ground against a a team ahead of them in the Wild Card race whom they needed to beat in order to keep their season alive.
And once again, Matt Kemp is in the news again for something rather innocuous and something that I’ve seen even 15 year vets do and that is miss a bag rounding the bases. Matt Kemp’s Base Running Needs Work.
So this game bring us 7 and a half back in the Wild Card race. All the Dodgers had to do was win 4 of the 6 versus the Rockies and Phillies and instead of 7.5 back, they are 3.5 back and right behind the San Francisco Giants who are 1.5 behind the Phillies, but would be a half game behind if the Dodgers took 2 of 3.
So, where do we go from here? 28 games to go, 7.5 back, and the team showing no sign of any type of hot streak or well, anything really.
Next up for the Dodgers are the Giants at Dodger Stadium, I’d say that we can be optimistic but, nah, the last time they were here, we got swept and they’re playing pretty good ball
After that we have a 3 game series against the San Diego Padres at their home park , another critical series…matter of fact, ever series from now until it’s over is critical. The Dodgers would have to go 20-8 from here on out to make the playoffs unless the 5 teams ahead of them go into an implosion of epic proportions and never have that many teams gone on a bad streak this late in the year so I’m not crossing my fingers.
Dodgers Gain Some Momentum, Sherill Takes it Away.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, coming into the game 5.5 games behind the Phillies, need every win they can get if they hope to catch up to anybody in the Wild Card race or maybe even the NL West now that the San Diego Padres have lost 6 in a row.
But, no need to worry Padres, Giants, Rockies and Cardinals George Sherill put flames on any attempt at a come back Tuesday by coming in, walking Ryan Howard, walking Jason Werth, getting Ibanez to ground out to second, but the Dodgers couldn’t turn a double play, or get the lead runner. That left Howard and Werth on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, Broxton comes in to relieve and well u know what happens next, Carlos Ruiz pinch hitting for Brian Schneider rakes a hit, 2 runs score and all the momentum that the Dodgers gained from James Loney’s two run home-run (James freakin’ Loney people…he finally did something right) and Podseknik’s diving catch in left field.
After those two, all the Dodgers and Philies had to do was mope it out for 2 more innings and just get it over with, they went fairly quickly and the Dodgers are now 6.5 back
Apparently the Dodgers still think they’ve got a chance, Ted Lilly was claimed on waivers by the Yankees but the Dodgers didn’t work out a deal, so with 29 games left and 6.5 back, the Dodgers feel like they can make some ground. To not be so pessimistic, they can, there’s chance with most of the teams ahead of the Dodgers playing bad but unfortunately, the Dodgers aren’t really playing their best ball and losing 2 of 3 to the Rockies really hurt their chances and they must win today if they hope to have any chance, or they’ll end up falling 7.5 behind.
Today’s game at 12:10 will be a great one, day game, two great pitchers, Roy Oswalt and Clayton Kershaw, so I’ll definitely be watching or listening to this one every one of the final 29 games is important but this one, this is a definite must win.
