Billingsley rocked as Astros pound Dodgers

Chad Billingsley would sure love to forget about his last month of pitching.

For the sixth straight time, Billingsley was unable to get that elusive 10th win. Not only did he not accomplish this, but he lasted only 1 and 2/3 innings, getting drilled for six runs, as the Astros easily won, 8-1. It was not pretty to say the least.

The Astros hit around in the first inning. Bills actually got Michael Bourn and Kaz Matsui out to start the game. Then, the next six hitters reached with two down. The big blows were a solo homer by Miguel Tejada and a two-run double by Hunter Pence.

After the Dodgers went down weakly in the bottom half, the Astros again went to work in the second. A big two-run double by Geoff Blum chased Bills with two outs in the second. Jeff Weaver had to come in way earlier than anyone would have expected.

The only run the Dodgers got was an RBI groundout by Russell Martin to score Orlando Hudson in the third. That, my friends, was it.

As bad as Billingsley was, Roy Oswalt was just the opposite. He went the complete game, giving up only one run on four hits. Throw in no walks and five strikeouts, and that was the Oswalt of old. After a rough first couple of months, he's turned it around to become the ace of their staff again.

For Billingsley, it's hard to figure out exactly what's wrong. Perhaps he had a bit of a dead arm last night after pitching in the All-Star game on Tuesday. Maybe the Astros just took good swings. From what I could tell, his location wasn't sharp at all. His breaking stuff either barely made it to the plate or was right in the middle.

I'll hope it's something as simple as fixing his location and not something worse. From what the Astros players said, they knew his breaking stuff was bad, so they just sat on his fastball. His next start will come at home on Wednesday against the Reds, who aren't a good hitting team. Hopefully that'll be the game to get him turned around.

Clayton Kershaw will take the mound today, looking to stop the Dodgers from getting their first three-game losing streak of the year. It won't be easy, as the Astros have completely outplayed them in every aspect of the game so far. But, Mike Hampton is going for the Astros, who isn't exactly a stud pitcher anymore.