Joe Torre's lineup card was one of the strangest he's filled out this season. With only Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, and Casey Blake starting like usual, the Dodgers were in store for a close battle.
Didn't matter with Chad Billingsley on the mound.
Billingsley was awesome in limiting the Tigers to one run over seven innings. A productive middle three innings was enough for the Dodgers to take the interleague opener, 4-1.
With the Padres getting steamrolled in Seattle (even with Cliff Lee having an off night), the Dodgers have moved into a first-place tie with the Pads. But the Dodgers have won five of six from them this season, giving them the tiebreaker. I have no idea if that even matters, but in my mind it's good enough. So there.
Like the pattern has been the last few games, the opposition scored a run in the first, then got shut down the rest of the way. Austin Jackson hit one in front of a slow-motion Manny for a leadoff double. A groundout and a sac-fly RBI from Magglio Ordonez later, and the Tigers led 1-0.
Dontrelle Willis was getting plenty of groundouts through the first part of the order. But in the fourth, the Dodgers starting getting baserunners on. It all started with two outs. Matt Kemp singled and took second on a wild pitch. Walks to Blake and Reed Johnson loaded the bases.
Nick Green got a rare start at second, as he was a mere 0-for-5 coming into this game. He did the smartest thing he could - he got beaned in the foot to force in a run. Actually, it kind of looked like he did, but it was close. Nonetheless, it forced in the tying run. A.J. Ellis hit a liner that was snared at second to end it.
With Bills in full control, the Dodgers got his back by tacking on a couple in the fifth. Jamey Carroll hit in the leadoff spot and walked with one out. Ronnie Belliard doubled for runners in scoring position. With Manny up, a wild pitch easily allowed Carroll to score. Manny then hit a hard one off of Brandon Inge's foot for an RBI single, making it 3-1.
Ellis took advantage of his once-in-a-blue-moon start by hitting an RBI single in the sixth to score Johnson. Speaking of Johnson, he started in right and played great, going 3-for-3 with a walk and run scored.
Four runs was more than enough with the pitching being so good on this night. Billingsley ended with seven innings, four hits, one run, two walks, and five strikeouts. He had some deep counts early in the game, but made big pitches to wiggle out of trouble.
The bullpen was again great. Ronald Belisario pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jonathan Broxton struck out the side for his ninth save. Broxton now has a 1.02 ERA to go along with 27 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
Back on May 5, the Dodgers lost 11-3 to the Brewers. Their record was 11-16, and they pretty much looked like crap. Since then, they've won 13 of 15 to push their record to 24-18. The offense has busted out plenty of runs in some games, but the streak is mostly because of pitching and defense. That's the Dodger-like formula for winning.
Tonight's game is a good matchup of young hurlers, as John Ely takes on Armando Galarraga. Since being recalled on May 10 when Charlie Haeger went on the DL, Ely's given up five runs in 19 2/3 innings. He's been everything and more for the bottom part of the rotation.
The game is on FOX as part of a Saturday night special. But, it'll mean I get the Subway Series. Oh well. Enjoy it for those of you that can watch it.
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