Unlike something out of a Willy Nelson song, the Los Angeles Dodgers (7-9) have found no comfort on the road; in fact it’s more like the Highway to Hell.

Adam Dunn homered twice and opposing pitcher Luis Atilano won in his major league debut as the Dodgers dropped another road game tonight to the lowly Washington Nationals (9-8), 1-5, making it the seventh time in ten games the Blue have lost an away game this season.

Despite the fact that Los Angeles is leading the majors in runs scored, Atilano took advantage of a Manny-less Dodger line-up holding them to just one run and five hits over six innings for his first career MLB win. This marks the second straight game that the Dodgers have lost to a starter getting his first major league win–the Reds’ Mike Leake handed it to us last night. It’s sort of like being on the wrong end of beginner’s luck.

I’ve got to give it to the guy, though. The 24-year-old Atilano replaced Jason Marquis in the Nats rotation tonight after coming back from a  potentially career-ending Tommy John surgery in 2006–which has made it a long and winding road to recovery up until tonight.

And speaking of long and winding roads, that’s what it seems like this road trip, and for that matter every road trip, has been for L.A. The Dodgers are giving up an average of 6.3 runs per game on the road and not even knuckballer Charlie Haeger could find the answers tonight against the perennial doormat of the NL East.

Haeger (0-2) threw 5 and 1/3 allowing five hits, four runs (three earned), and two home-runs to Natty’s slugger Adam Dunn who got his 25tth career multi-homer game. Haeger (6.46) has yet to show the kind of stuff that helped the Dodgers down the stretch last year, and had lots of trouble hitting his spots tonight. But as we all know, knuckleballers tend to be hit-or-miss, and apparently Haeger hasn’t been very good at Battleship in ’10.

And with Manny on the 15-day DL with a strained right calf, the Dodgers didn’t do too much hitting themselves. Veteran Garrett Anderson, who started in place of Mannywood, went 0-for-4, and Matt Kemp had his 11-game hit-streak snapped by going hitless in four at-bats. In fact the top-half of the Dodger order only managed only two hits in 20 at-bats (.100).

Ouch.

James Loney scored the lone run for the Dodgers, but Ronnie Belliard, who started at third base tonight, was the gut of the Dodger offense tonight connecting for two of the team’s five hits including a base-on-balls, the third time in three road starts he’s reached base three times.

The Dodgers will have an early start tomorrow as Clayton Kershaw (1-0) takes the mound against Craig Stammen (1-0) at 1:05 EDT.

I think Kershaw will come out on fire tomorrow and shut down this Nationals squad that’s rapidly approaching it’s 10th win of the season (a feat they didn’t reach til the 28th game last year). If Kershaw is to avoid a Dodger three-game skid, he’s definitely gotta cut down on the walks. The left-hander has allowed only six runs in three starts,  but he’s also walked an NL-high 15.

I expect Kershaw to keep his composure and rack up atleast seven K’s tomorrow afternoon as the Dodgers reluctantly make a push for .500, a mountain they haven’t eclipsed all season. Go Blue!

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How does a baseball team still manage to stay below .500 despite having one of the most explosive offenses in the league? Pitching, or a lack thereof.

This time the Dodgers tried but couldn’t quite rebound from Billingsley’s latest meltdown. After giving up seven hits and four earned, most of which came in a six-run second inning, Los Angeles erased a six-run Reds’ lead late in the ballgame, but the struggling Dodger bullpen couldn’t come through in the clutch…again.

The Reds jumped out to what seemed like an insurmountable 9-3 lead when Matt Kemp and the Dodger offense came back in waves. After a lead-off double by Ronnie Belliard, Rafael Furcal singled in a run in the eighth and Kemp cleared the bases with a three-run shot to center which tied the ballgame, completing obliterating a six-run deficit. The home-run was Kemps his sixth of the season, all of which have come in the last nine games.

The tie lasted all of three batters as the Dodgers’ bullpen continues to lose games in the late innings. Ramon Troncoso (1-1) came in the game and quickly gave two of those runs right back to the Reds, which ended up being the difference in the game. After Troncoso walked two, Cincinnati’s Paul Janish singled home the tiebreaking run, and the Reds broke their five-game losing streak to a Dodger team that just haven’t found the answers on the road.

I guess the Reds were just due.

But when you’re losing games despite having plated nine runs, it be a little nauseating to watch. Casey Blake led the Dodger hitting with two extra-base hits and four RBI while the 6-7-8 portion of the batting order (Blake, DeWitt, Martin) all managed to go 2-for-5. However, it’s pitching that’s the problem for Los Angeles, both starting and relief pitching. When the starting rotation can’t seem to go past the sixth inning and the bullpen struggles to get out of jams late in the ballgame it’s a recipe for disaster. Something’s got to give, and until they find the right chemistry it’s going to continue to be a roller coaster season.

In a move to patch up their bleeding bullpen, the Dodgers activated pitcher Ronald Belisario for tonight’s game against Cincinatti. Last season Belisario pitched an impressive 2.04 ERA in 70 1/3 innings in his rookie season, but he was placed on the restricted list of the Dodgers’ roster this off-season after missing most of spring training when he couldn’t acquire a visa from his native Venezuela.

Hiroki Kuroda (1-0) gets his third start of the season tonight against Aaron Harang (0-2), who gets my vote for ugliest soul patch in the National League (considering that Scott Spiezio is no longer playing). The Dodgers hope to get some help from their bullpen and hopefully take a game on the road (they have lost five of seven on the road so far this season).

The Pittsburgh Pirates are the toughest team to beat the first week of the season. They certainly gave the Dodgers fits.

It’s not until about, oh, the third or fourth game, when the Pirates come back down to reality and lose the rest of their games–as has been the tradition for the last 17 years (1992 was the last year Pittsburgh had a record above .500).

But with the heart of the Dodgers line-up taking the day off and Chad Billingsley on the hill, Joe Torre’s crew managed to hold off the invincible Garrett Jones and Ronnie Belliard led the Dodgers with three extra base hits (a single shy of the cycle) as L.A. avoided an embarrassing opening-series sweep from the Bucs, 10-2.

Today the Dodgers sat out five regular starters including Andre Ethier (sore ankle), Manny Ramirez, and Casey Blake, but the Blue Crew still managed to rack up 16 hits and  sent four different Pirate pitchers to the showers. The Dodgers strung together base hits like they did most of last season when they actually led the NL in hits (fourth in the NL in runs scored).

Phew….nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia, Ronnie “Big Belly” Belliard, after having lost his second base job to Blake DeWitt, moved into third base to replace the usual starter Blake and made an impressive argument for a starting spot going 3-for-5 with two runs, four RBI, and a two-run shot in the fifth to help the Dodgers pull away 4-0.

Much has been said about Belliard’s weight in the off-season (hence the move to DeWitt), but love handles or no love handles, the guy hits the ball with the same kind of zeal as a chubby fourth-grader in the cafeteria line. He really gave us a boost in the latter part of last season when Blake’s bat went into an August-September slumber. Over a span of 24 games, Belliard hit a belly-busting .351 with five homers and 17 RBI. Give the man some credit and a Little Debbie snack or two. I believe he’s earned it.

Aside from Ronnie, the middle part of the order hit the face off the ball.  Batters 1-4 (1. Raffie, 2. Reed Johnson, 3. Matty K., and 4. Loney) batted an unconscionable 10-for-18! with three extra-base hits and four runs batted in. I’m not sure what kind of slugging percentage that is, but I do know this: it’s going to win you ball games.

My personal favorite, Matt Kemp, is always Mr. Consistent at the plate proving that he can hit from anywhere in the line-up. I really like Kemp at the three-spot, though, because he hits well with runners in scoring position (.280 in 2009). In fact, last season Matty hit from every position possible  hitting the best  in the seven-hole (.328 with eight home-runs and 30 RBI). He is prone to the strikeout (had two today), but I’ll take 2-for-4 to the bank any day of the week.

However, one of the best stories of today probably goes to Reed Johnson who went 3-for-4 in his Dodgers debut. Might I be the first to say: welcome to L.A., Mr. Johnson.

The Dodgers signed the outfielder in the off-season after he spent two years as utility-man for the Chicago Cubs. With the absence of Mark Derosa (who’s now with the Giants–ugh), Johnson was one of the scrappiest players for the Cubs and could always find ways to manufacture runs. Today he scored a couple of runs including the first of the ball game on Loney’s single to center.

The other best-story nominee definitely  goes to Chad Billingsley who got his first win today–hopefully there’s more where that came from. Today he threw a solid five and a third innings and served up 7 sweet-baby-K’s. I know as well as you know he struggled late last season. He knows struggled late season. And I know that you know that the Philadelphia Phillies know he struggled late last season.

But the 25-year-old hurler IS our ace, and it was Chad who should have started Opening Day (I’m not sayin’….I’m just sayin’). I think after having some time to adjust to the role, Bills will be more comfortable as our go-to-guy. And I’m more than willing to give him another chance. The only negative is that he did have four walks, but when you can keep serving up wiffle balls, all is forgiven.

And man it feels good to get the first win off our backs. I thought the world was coming to an end after we dropped two in a row to open the season to the Pirates. Kind of like last year when they dropped three-of-four to the Buccos in the last week of the season. Is it just me, or do we have a really difficult time beating teams from Pennsylvania?

The Dodgers hadn’t been swept in a three-game series by Pittsburgh since Sept. 4-6, 2000, in Los Angeles. The last time it happened in Pittsburgh was May 31-June 2, 1999, when the Pirates still played in Three Rivers Stadium.