John Ely (3-2), who grew up in suburban Homewood, Ill., held the Cubs to only four hits in 7 1-3 innings in his return home, but a late-inning mishap by right-fielder Xavier Paul, filling in for an injured Ethier, may have cost L.A. the game, as the Cubs won 8 of the last 11.

The score was 0-0 in the bottom of the eighth when Cubs utility player Mike Fontenot (filling in for Jeff Baker, who left with an apparent vision problem) led off the inning with a triple down the right-field line, which was misplayed by Paul. Fontenot scored two batters later on a one-out, RBI-double down the line by Tyler Colvin, who went to third when Paul again had trouble picking up the ball. 

It’s always an adventure in the Wrigley outfield.

Both players entered the line-up in the eighth as part of a double switch in which reliever Sean Marshall replaced the starter Ted Lilly, both of which combined with closer Carlos Marmol to hold the Dodgers scoreless.

The streaking Casey Blake led the Dodger offense with two more hits, going 15 for his last 34 plate apperances, but despite out-hitting the Cubs, Los Angeles couldn’t come through when it counted, leaving 15 men on-base.

With the Dodgers down 1-0, Manny came in to pinch-hit with a runner on and one-out in the ninth, but struck out on a Marmol slider out of the zone. Not even veteran Garrett Anderson could come through, striking out to end the game and wasting Ely’s finest outing in his young Dodger career.

A White Sox fan growing up, Ely was drafted by the Southsiders and spent three years in their system before he was dealt to the Dodgers as part of the Juan Pierre trade in December. He got called up on April 28 has been an integral part of the Dodger rotation ever since.

The good news for the Dodgers offense is the probable return of Andre Ethier. According to Yahoo Sports, Ethier, who’s been out with a broken right pinky finger, could return from the 15-day disabled list as early as Monday. Manager Joe Torre said he’s scheduled to play for Triple-A Albuquerque this weekend and take Sunday off.

The Blue Crew will travel to Colorado for a weekend series with the surging Rockies, who’ve won their last five-straight. One thing’s for sure, if the Dodgers hit like they did against the Cubs, they won’t stand a chance on the road against Ubaldo Jimenez and the rest of the Rockies’ pitching staff. Time to bring the bats, boys.

He wasn’t dominant last night, but Billingsley (6-2) still managed to walk away with a his fourth-consecutive W. After allowing only one run in his last two starts, Billingsley (6-2) gave up three runs and a season-high 10 hits, striking out six and walking one for a total of 100 pitches.

Not too bad of a performance, though, considering the distractions. The game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes in top of the fourth inning after a nearby fire caused the lights to go out at Wrigley Field.

An Ethier-less offense gave Billingsley all the support he needed, even despite a near bullpen collapse. James Loney finished a home run short of the cycle, and the Dodgers rebounded from last night’s goose-egg performance plating three runs in the top of the first and two more in the second.

Furcal, who’s struggled with his glove of late, led-off the game with a single, followed by a Russell Martin walk, and then Furcal scored on Manny Ramirez’s hard grounder to third. Casey Blake continued with an RBI double to left and then scored on Loney’s single.

With a 7-3 lead in the sixth, the Cubs threatened to come back thanks to a sub-par bullpen performance and Manny’s inability to field a ball.

After Xavier Nady hit a solo home-run off Billingsley in the sixth, Derek Lee singled off reliever Ronald Belisario in the seventh and Alfonso Soriano hit what seemed to be a routine fly ball to left, but Ramirez nonchalantly jogged in and was unable to come up with the ball, allowing the runners to advance in scoring position. Then one out later, pinch-hitter Jeff Baker hit a deep fly ball to left-field, and again, Ramirez couldn’t come up with it resulting in a two-run triple.

That’s just Manny being Manny.

Manager Joe Torre said Manny’s been bothered by a foot injury that kept him out of the line-up last week.

“He’s had these leg issues. He’s not moving as he had before. He said it was his fault on that ball that hit the wall. He thought it was going out of the ballpark and he stopped running after it,” Torre said.

The Dodgers were bailed out by closer Jonathon Broxton who came on for the five-out save, his 11th of the season. Third baseman Casey Blake (2-for-5, 2 RBI) added insurance with his seventh home-run of the season as the Dodgers won their 15th of the last 21 games.

The rubber-match of the series will be today at 2:20 ET, as rookie Jon Ely (3-1, 3.41) takes on Ted Lilly (1-4, 4.40).

After reportedly refusing to pay for his Los Angeles Dodgers season tickets, Lovitz might need a better catch phrase to talk his way out of this predicament. Or maybe a better lie.

According to a story from the Huffington Post (thanks Ian),the Dodgers are suing Lovitz and 100 others for allegedly failing to pay nearly $100,000 in season ticket holdings. The Delaware-based Dodger Tickets LLC filed the breach-of-contract lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles.

(Here’s a video of Jon Lovitz playing former Dodger coach Tommy Lasorda in a 1990 SNL sketch.)

The lawsuit claims Lovitz and the 100 other ticket holders entered into a written agreement in March of 2008 to buy three Dugout Club seats (VIP section) for all home games at Dodger Stadium in 2008, 2009 and 2010, which apparently they have not paid.

CBS News reports that along with Lovitz, the Dodgers are also suing producer/celebrity Steve Marlton (Rescue Dawn and Bottoms Up) for more than $300,000 in unpaid tickets for the 2010-2014 seasons.

The Dodgers canceled Lovitz’s season tickets for the remainder of the year, but are still actively seeking money owed by the actor, which sums up to about $95,400 for the tickets along with other unspecified damages in the lawsuit.

I don’t know what Lovitz’s financial situation looks like, but clearly the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Hollywood isn’t making enough money to pay for his Dodger Dogs.

I guess that’s not the ticket.

They did it all behind a rejuvenated offense and the arm of Hiroki Kuroda (5-1), who won his fifth game in his last six decisions. Kuroda completed six innings allowing three runs and seven hits and striking out two. The Dodger bullpen (Belisario, Kuo and Troncoso) pitched another shutout, giving up only one hit in three innings.

Dodger pitching is a big reason why they’ve won nine-in-a-row; the Dodgers’ staff hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a game during the streak, an ERA of 1.89, and the bullpen hasn’t allowed an earned run in the last six contests.

Meanwhile, the Dodger offense have averaged 5.6 runs during this streak, even with their leading slugger missing the last four games.

Casey Blake led the attack last night with three hits, including two RBI and his fourth homer of the season. Manny Ramirez and James Loney each batted in two runs as well and Jamey Carroll added a sacrifice fly in the fourth, which was more than enough to beat the lowly Houston Astros (who, besides Carlos Lee, have the league’s worst offense).

The Dodgers are streaking in all the right places in the month of May. Russell Martin added a single in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, one more than his previous best in 2007.

The offense could have taken a severe hit, though, as they found out they may be without Silver Slugger Andre Ethier for as long as six weeks. Ethier, who leads the league with a .392 average and 38 RBIs, went on the DL for the first time in his five-year career just hours before the sellout crowd received his bobblehead.

The right-fielder was placed on the 15-day after sustaining a fractured bone in his right pinkie Saturday while taking swings in the indoor batting cage at San Diego’s Petco Park.

Even with the recent string of injuries, the Dodgers have managed to win 11 of their last 12. The Blue Crew currently stands one game back in the division, and they have a chance to pull into a first-place tie in the NL West with the visiting San Diego Padres coming to Chavez Ravine tonight.

In a story from MLB.com, the Dodgers are expected to place Andre Ethier on the 15-day disabled list today, three days after he fractured a bone in his right pinkie during batting practice Sunday.

Unfortunately for Dodger fans, the move is expected to be made tonight, which is Andre Ethier Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium.

Ethier sustained the injury while taking swings in the indoor batting cage when he pinched his right pinkie against his bat. He took a few more swings during batting practice before telling hitting coach Don Mattingly about the problem.

There’s still no confirmation from the team, but according to an interview on KABC radio, the club’s flagship station, general manager Ned Colletti indicated the move was likely to happen.

Ethier’s finger was placed in a splint Sunday with the hope he would still be able play through it, but indications are that the Dodger staff will allow the injury to heal rather than risk further injury. Ethier had complained that the finger affected both his ability to hit and throw.

Before the injury, the Dodger slugger was leading the NL in all three Triple Crown categories, batting .392 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs. According to MLB.com, he also led the majors with a May average of .490, a slugging percentage of.980 slugging and 19 RBIs.

Last night’s performance marks 84 consecutive batters Ely has faced without allowing a walk—the longest current streak in the majors. The right-hander. who turned 24-years-old last Thursday, hurled eight K’s in his fourth career start and allowed only five hits in seven strong innings, six days after beating Arizona for his first big league victory.

The Astros got on the board quickly with Lance Berkman’s RBI single in the top of the first, but the Blue Crew came back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. After two singles by Reed Johnson and Matt Kemp and a walk to Manny, James Loney hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to score a run, and then and Casey Blake cleared the bases with a two-run double scoring Manny and Kemp, who ran through third-base coach Larry Bowa’s stop sign to score his MLB-leading 33rd run.

The Dodgers made it 4-1 in the fourth when DeWitt tripled off the glove of right fielder Hunter Pence. scoring on shortstop Jamey Carroll’s sacrifice fly. DeWitt then drove in the final two runs with another triple, making him the first Dodger with two triples in a game since Rafael Furcal on June 13, 2007. He finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI (Source: Yahoo Sports).

The Astros got a run back in the fifth, but Ely and the Dodger bullpen shut-out the struggling Houston offense the rest of the way as they continued their longest winning-streak in almost four years.

Ely, acquired (with Jon Link) from the Chicago White Sox in a trade for Juan Pierre,  has given up only three walks and racked up 25 strikeouts through his first four outings, and if he continues to throw fireballs, he’ll earn a definite starting spot in the Dodger rotation.

The win boasts the white-hot Dodgers (21-17) 13th in their last 16 games, the latter of which were without slugger Andre Ethier who missed his third straight game with a small fracture in his right pinky. Ethier currently leads the majors in batting average (.392), RBIs (38) and tied for the NL lead in home runs with 11. The Dodgers are expected to place the outfielder on the disabled list sometime today.

With the first-place Padres playing San Francisco again tonight, the Dodgers have a chance to pull within one game of the division. They currently stand two games back.

Tonight Los Angeles will go their most solid starter of late, Hiroki Kuroda (4-1, 2.66), against Bud Norris and a Houston team that’s averaged 2.6 runs and hit .216 while dropping 15 of 20. The Astros (13-25), losers of four straight, are last in the majors in batting average (.227) and runs (112).

Last night, manager Joe Torre thought about sitting Russ, not because he’d been slumping or anything like that, but because he’s caught every single game in the month of May.

Since Manny, Ethier and Casey Blake were all taking the day off (Ethier sitting out because of a broken pinkie), Torre thought better of that idea and let Russell catch last night’s game against the first-place Padres. It turned out to be a wise choice.

In a game where offense was hard to come by, Russell Martin stepped up in the sixth inning and hit a go-ahead single to center scoring shortstop Jamey Carroll. The single was L.A.’s first hit of the game and the only run scored by either team, which turned out to be the difference as the Dodgers went on to win 1-0, sweeping the San Diego Padres.

And this isn’t the first time Russ has come through for the Dodgers in the past couple of weeks. Martin continues to be one of the Dodgers’ most reliable bats hitting safely in the last 11 games dating back to May 5 against the Brewers. During that span he’s batting .304 with  seven RBI, seven runs-scored and two huge home-runs, one against the division-rival Rockies and one against the Milwaukee Brewers.

For a man who struggled all of last year to find any kind of rhythm, Russ is catching his stride on both sides of the plate this season. In fact, Martin has been the catalyst behind the Dodgers’ resurgence, winning seven-in-a-row and 12 of the last 15. That’s the very definition of nutting up.

After beginning last week more than five games back, the Dodgers (19-7) find themselves back in the mix of things. The Blue Crew is now only two games out in the division returning home to the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine to take on the Houston Astros (13-24) tonight @ 10:10 EDT.

Then Jonathan Broxton shut the door with a perfect ninth and his third save of the series–seventh-out-of-nine chances on the season. The win marks the Dodgers 12th in the last 15 games.

But it was the right-handed Billingsley that was the hero today. On the mound Bills (4-2) posted six strikeouts in 7 and 1/3, allowing only four hits and one walk, as he finished the week with the ace-like command we’ve come to expect from the 25-year-old.

That’s impressive enough, but he did his job at the plate, too. After Carroll drew a lead-off walk the sixth inning, Bills dropped down a sacrifice bunt which later turned into a run off Martin’s single to center. That’s what I call paying the Bills.

Manager Joe Torre initially wanted to give Martin the day off after he caught back-to-back games this weekend (Martin has also started every game this month), but he figured it would be tough to give Martin, Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez the day off without having Ethier in the lineup.

It turned out to be a wise choice indeed, Joe. Russell Martin continues to be one of the Dodgers’ most reliable bats hitting safely in the last 11 games dating back to May 5 against the Brewers. During that span he’s batting .304 with two home-runs, seven RBI and seven runs-scored.

This afternoon’s win marks the first time this season the Dodgers have swept back-to-back divisional series. After entering the weekend with a three-and-a-half game lead, the Padres’ margin atop the NL West is down to a half game over the San Francisco Giants, who travel to San Diego for a two-game series starting Monday night.

The Dodgers are two games back in the division as they return home to Chavez Ravine to take on the Houston Astros (13-24) tomorrow night @ 10:10 EDT .

I know what you’re thinking…it’s just a pinkie, and Ethier is a grown man, how long can this possibly keep him out of the line-up? Well, the truth is, we won’t know until later.

The report right now is that Ethier fractured a bone in his right pinkie while taking swings in the indoor batting cage when he pinched his right pinkie against his bat. He took a few more swings during batting practice before telling hitting coach Don Mattingly about the problem. Ethier also said the finger bothered him while he was playing catch.

Here’s a quote taken from Yahoo Sports:

“It’s a big thing,” Ethier said. “It could be a couple of days, it could be longer than that. I’m a little disappointed in the fact that it’s something this small.”

Unfortunately, the broken finger caused Ethier to miss today’s game against the Padres. According to team officials he’ll be examined by a hand specialist today. At the very least, Dodger blogger Eric Stephen says Ethier won’t be able to do the following in the immediate future (his words, not mine):

• Swing a bat
• Portray Dr. Evil
• Give the “hang loose” sign
• Do the classic Magic Johnson and A.C. Green handshake from the Showtime days
• Properly drink tea

Tea or no tea, it’s no secret the impact that Ethier brings to the Dodger line-up. The left-hander leads the majors with a .392 batting average and 38 RBIs, and is currently tied for the NL lead with 11 homers.