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.

The Dodgers activated the Venezuelan pitcher just one day after sending veteran Russ Ortiz back to Triple-A Albuquerque. The move makes Belisario elligible to pitch in tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, and they may choose to go with him after last night’s latest bullpen meltdown when Ramon Troncoso walked two and gave up a two-run, go-ahead single to the Reds in the eighth.

As one writer so eloquently put it: “Cincinnati had the Dodgers bullpen seeing red…again.”

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Belisario could help stop the bleeding; he is coming back from a bright rookie season where he hurled an ERA of 2.04 in 70 2-3 innings and helped the Blue down the stretch when the starting rotation couldn’t get past the sixth inning.

But the pitcher does come with some baggage. He was arrested last year in California for suspicion of driving under the influence, and supposedly the ensuing court case created visa problems in his native Venezuela, which caused him to miss most of spring training. As a result, he’s been on the Dodgers restricted list prior to his activation this week.

Belisario may not be the only missing link to Los Angeles’ bullpen. The Dodgers also brought up Jon Link for his major league debut last night against the Cincinnati Reds. Link came in the sixth inning after the Reds jumped out to a 9-3 lead. The right-hander threw two scoreless innings allowing no hits and only one walk.

Last season the NL West Champion Dodgers relied heavily on their bullpen to give them relief, but after leading the NL in runs allowed in 2009, the Dodger bullpen just can’t seem to put it together this year. What gives?

In seven games the pen has allowed 15 earned runs in just 17 and 1/3 innings (a whopping ERA of 7.79), which is a big part of the reason why the Dodgers are just 3-4. The bullpen collapsed twice on the road against the Florida Marlins last weekend losing both those games in the late innings, and they were flirting with collapse again this afternoon before winning the home opener.

The answer isn’t as easy as one might think. In 2009 the same crew finished second in the major leagues in wins (37), first in bullpen ERA (3.14), WHIP (1.26), opponent batting average (.230) and opponent OPS (.656). For a team who’s starting pitchers averaged just 5.7 innings (worst among playoff teams), the bullpen was absolutely the most important part of the Dodgers’ success.

Only this year, they aren’t succeeding.

Even in today’s 9-5 win over Arizona the bullpen still allowed three runs. When they were up 9-2 and about to wrap it up early, Ramon Ortiz came into the game in the seventh. After retiring the first two batters he faced, things quickly turned ugly when Mark Reynolds hit a two-run home-run over the left field fence. That wasn’t the end of it. Then second baseman Kelly Johnson pulled the game within grand-slam-distance when he hit an RBI single to center.

Jeff Weaver and Ramon Troncoso looked OK, but at no point did either one of them look like they were in complete control. Weaver allowed one run when he came into a sixth-inning jam to relieve starter Clayton Kershaw, and set-up man Troncoso struggled with his control early on, consistently falling behind batters before eventually securing the eighth.

And it doesn’t end there. George Sherill has been the very definition of the bullpen’s misadventures this season retiring only one of the five batters he’s faced and sporting a mind-boggling ERA of 22.50. Neither Ortiz has an ERA of under 5.00 either, and not mention last year’s standout Ronald Belisario who currently isn’t on the roster because he ran into a little trouble getting a visa in the off-season.

If things keep going this way the Dodgers might want to consider bringing in Jose Canseco as their new set-up man.

It’s not all bad, though. Jonathan Broxton continues to be solid out of the Dodger pen, which is something you really need from your closer. Brox has yet to allow a run and has given up only one hit in three appearances including today’s one-two-three ninth against the Diamondbacks. Sweet relief!

I’ll be the first to admit: being a Dodger reliever isn’t the easiest job in the world (even if you do have a visa). Dodger starters seem to have a tough time lasting more than five innings, which means they’re going to get a lot of work. For instance, Jeff Weaver has been called on in every game this season except for one.

But when you are called on out of the pen, we do expect to get some relief. After all, that’s why you get paid the big bucks. If not, it’s going to be a long season. And I really don’t want to see Jose Canseco’s noodle arm anytime soon.