Blake provides the power

Casey Blake is on the Dodgers for veteran leadership and solid defense at third. He also tosses in the occasional homer.

Blake's two-run homer in the eighth gave the Dodgers the lift they needed, as they went on to defeat the Giants, 4-2. It was a much-needed win for a team looking to rebound from Sunday night's debacle against the Yankees.

Chad Billingsley was making his return from the 15-day DL to make the start. His job was to pitch deep into the game while trying to erase the bad memories from the night before.

It didn't start off so well, as the Giants struck in the first. Andres Torres walked to lead off and stole second as Freddy Sanchez struck out. An RBI single by Aubrey Huff later, and it was 1-0 Giants.

The offense for the Dodgers got going in the third. With one out, Rafael Furcal doubled. Reed Johnson hit a single for runners on the corners. Andre Ethier lifted a sac-fly RBI to center to tie the game at 1-1. Manny Ramirez then just found some room in center for an RBI double and a 2-1 lead.

That score would hold up until the sixth. Travis Ishikawa pinch-hit for Barry Zito and hit a double with one down. Torres flew out for two down, so it was up Sanchez. He came through, as his RBI single knotted the game at 2-2.

At this point, it would have been easy for the Dodgers to roll over and play dead after all they went through on Sunday. To their credit, they didn't let that happen. They came into this game with a dominating 18-5 record against the NL West, and they made sure to play like that.

With Santiago Casilla and his 0.73 ERA on in the eighth, the Dodgers had their work cut out for them. Manny singled hard to right with one out. Ronnie Belliard grounded into a fielder's choice to force Manny at second. With two strikes on him, Blake then hit a two-run shot to left that would prove to be the difference. It was great clutch hitting.

Ronald Belisario pitched a scoreless eighth, thanks in large part to a double play ball from Torres. In fact, the Giants hit into an amazing FIVE DP's on the night. I'm not expert, but that's pretty shocking. Or pretty lousy hitting, if that's the way you look at it.

Fast forward to the ninth, and Joe Torre brought in Hong-Chih Kuo to get the save. It wasn't easy, as Juan Uribe walked with one down. Aaron Rowand then singled for two on. Here's something that I didn't think I'd say at the start of the season: Buster Posey pinch-hit for Pablo Sandoval. It didn't work, as Posey went out of the strike zone to strike out on a full count.

Edgar Renteria flied out lazily to right to end the game. It was Kuo's second save of the season.

The best part of this game was not seeing Jonathan Broxton in there. I'm sorry, I just can't easily forgot how terrible he was the night before. That one may take awhile to get over. Even if Kuo blew the save, I was so happy to see him get the chance and not Mr. Scared of the Spotlight. Thank you, Mr. Torre!

As for the Giants, they'll be kicking themselves for being so awful with men on base. The worst sequence came in the seventh. Pat Burrell and Sandoval singled to open the inning. Renteria then flied out to Ethier, who then fired home. Burrell stayed at third, but then Sandoval, for reasons only known to him, tried tagging to second. The ball was cut off, and Raffy easily tagged him out as Burrell went nowhere. Bengie Molina grounded out next, and the Giants completely ran themselves out of a scoring opportunity.

Billingsley put forth a great effort, as he finished with six innings for five hits, two runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. He didn't factor into the decision, but deserved a win. It was nice to see both he and Vicente Padilla pitch so well in coming back from injuries. It's a good sign going forward.

Perhaps most surprising was Matt Kemp sitting for a second straight game. Torre is obviously sending a message: if you're not producing, you're not playing. I like it. Kemp looks so completely lost right now, it's hard to watch. Maybe sitting him and clearing his head will work out for the best. I sure hope so.

Young John Ely will get the ball on Tuesday. He pitched very well against the Angels last start after doing zip in the previous three. He'll go against the powerful Matt Cain.