That can of whoop ass has now been slammed shut

After watching last night's ballgame, one would think that the Dodgers have finally busted loose on the offensive end. My oh my were we wrong.

Greg Maddux was simply awesome today, 2-hitting the Dodgers over 5 innings, and 4 other pitchers came in to blank them and win, 1-0. 5 lousy hits was all they could muster all game long. So much for finding their groove offensively.

What should not be forgotten in all of this is how great Chad Billingsley was. He also went 5 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits, and K'ing an impressive 8. He let a couple of guys reach in the 1st inning, but settled down after that. His only blemish was in the 4th, when Jim Edmonds scored on a Paul McAnulty sac-fly. That's it. Considering how rocky Bills has been lately, this is a great sign for the future.

At no point during the game did the Dodgers even put 2 men on base in the same inning. That's pretty bad, but give Maddux and the rest credit - it's not like they're a bunch of stiffs. They're actually pretty darn good. Still, on a day where the Dodgers only yielded 1 run, you would think they could score 2 at some point. I guess not.

Juan Pierre got another start in the #2 hole today, and went 1-4. It's not like anybody else was hitting either, so it doesn't matter. Andruw Jones was 0-2 with 2 K's and a walk. I'm not even going to waste time talking about him. It's all rehash at this point.

Trevor Hoffman got the save, but ran into some trouble yet again. With 2 outs, Jeff Kent doubled. Russell Martin had a chance to be a hero, and came close, flying out to deep right. It's a good thing he swung the bat because if he reached base without Kent scoring, Jones would have just struck out to end the game anyway, so it's good that Martin tried to win it on his own. That's how much confidence I have right now in the big, free agent savior for the offense that would drive in all sorts of runs with is power. Ya, that's really paid off so far.

The Dodgers stay home for 3 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates starting Monday. After on off day on Thursday, they will hit the road across country to hook up with the Atlanta Braves.