4-0 for Lilly in Dodger blue

It's time to start talking long-term deal for Ted Lilly right now!

For a season that has been dwindling downhill, Lilly gave Dodger fans some excitement by tossing a complete game shutout. Reed Johnson's two-run homer in the second held up as they beat the Rockies, 2-0. The Dodgers took two of three in the series.

Yesterday was all about how awful Octavio Dotel was, and in comparison to the success James McDonald has enjoyed in Pittsburgh, that trade has certainly looked pretty bad. But not with Lilly. He's been awesome with the Dodgers, going 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA.

Today he had everything clicking in pitching the whole game. He gave up a mere two hits, two walks, and struck out 11. He'll never overpower hitters, but his breaking stuff froze them all night. Just ask Miguel Olivo, who was ejected in the eighth after striking out for the third time.

The lone highlight at the plate came in the second. Casey Blake walked with one down. Johnson got the start in place of a resting Andre Ethier. He launched a two-run homer to left for the 2-0 lead.

Now the Dodgers had chances to add on as the game progressed, but like usual, blew it over and over. They can all thank Lilly for being such a stud, because if he wasn't, we'd all be talking about more failure with runners on.

But what the heck, I'll talk about it anyway. In the third, Matt Kemp lined into a double play to end the inning. Kemp can't hit anymore, and when he does hit it hard, he gets no luck. Two innings later, Lilly tried to advance Brad Ausmus on a bunt, but it turned into a double play.

Then the sixth came, and Scott Podsednik singled and Ryan Theriot doubled to lead off. That meant three chances to score one run. Take a lucky guess what ended up happening. Try zero runs. Kemp and James Loney grounded out. Blake was given the intentional pass to face Johnson, who grounded into a fielder's choice.

Finally, in the eighth, the Dodgers again put two on thanks to Ryan Spilborghs dropping a fly ball to right. Podsednik hit into another double play to end the inning.

In the end it all didn't matter thanks to Lilly. Joe Torre had Ronald Belisario and Hong-Chih Kuo warming up after Lilly walked Eric Young leading off. Dexter Fowler followed with a double play grounder, and Spilborghs struck out looking at a hook to end it.

Lilly's masterpiece aside, I'm not sure what Torre can do to get the offense even somewhat going at this point. He hit Kemp and Loney in the 3-4 spots, and they went 0-for-8. Podsednik's hit .301 since coming over, so he's been getting on base. But as has been pointed out over and over, the lack of a big power threat or two in the middle of the order just bites this team in the behind each game.

Manny Ramirez is supposedly a week or so away from being back in the lineup. Of course, that's assuming he doesn't suffer another setback. That brings up an interesting question for Torre: Which outfielder will sit when he's back? With Rafael Furcal still out, I can't see Podsednik sitting, since he's one of the few that's actually hit lately.

It really comes down to picking between Ethier and Kemp, as crazy as that might have seemed at the start of the season. Ethier has picked it up in August by hitting .333, so he'll get his playing time. To me, Kemp will be the odd man out, at least for most of the games. As much as everyone wants him to hit, it's just not happening. He's hitting .218 this month after going .245 last month.

I'm not saying Kemp will sit the bench and never play again. I just think Manny, Ethier, and Podsednik should play more. Manny won't be playing everyday, so Kemp will get in there. But at this point, he's looking at being a defensive replacement late in games since the Dodgers play so many close ones.

Of course, there's still a chance of Manny being traded. So all of this talk about who plays where will figure itself out.

The Dodgers will welcome the Reds for three starting Friday. The Reds are on top of the Cardinals by 3 1/2 games in the NL Central, so every game for them is big. Carlos Monasterios will start in place of the recently DL'd Vicente Padilla.