2-hit by Jason Marquis? Ouch

Chad Billingsley did all he could, giving up three runs in 7 and 2/3 innings, striking out 11. Too bad the offense never showed up with him.

The Dodgers looked absolutely lost against Jason Marquis, as they could only muster two hits in losing 3-0. The game only took two hours and 16 minutes. So pretty much if you blinked, you would've missed the Dodgers helplessly flailing away.

The good was the performance by Billingsley, who was coming off two rough starts in which he couldn't hold three-run leads. The first inning looked a bit bleak, as Clint Barmes doubled and Brad Hawpe walked. But Troy Tulowitzki grounded out, and there was no damage.

After flying through the first three innings, Hawpe launched a hanging breaking ball out to left for the 1-0 lead. He would continue to haunt the Dodgers on this night, as he finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Marquis not only retired 19 consecutive men at one point, he also did his best Randy Wolf impersonation with the bat. In the seventh, the bases were loaded for the Rockies on a single by Hawpe and walks to Ian Stewart (intentional) and Chris Iannetta. Marquis then lined a soft single into left that scored two, and it was 3-0.

I would recap the best scoring chances the Dodgers had, but that never happened. James Loney singled in the second and Juan Castro in the eighth. And that, my friends, is all she wrote. They didn't even take one walk the whole night. It was a pretty sad effort at the plate.

Orlando Hudson and Russell Martin received the night off, and with good reason. Hudson's down to .297 by hitting .222 in June. Martin looks totally lost, as he pinch-hit and weakly grounded back to the mound. He's hit a meager .190 in June.

The bottom line - they need Manny back, now more than ever. After scoring seven runs in the last four games, that's pretty obvious. The threat of him alone will make a huge difference. By the way, he's due back on Friday in San Diego.

The Dodgers will look to somehow get their offense going with an afternoon game today. Clayton Kershaw takes the mound. If the first two games are any indication, the game will come down to which pitchers drives in the most runs. Look for Wolf and Marquis to both hit cleanup...