The Pirates put up a three spot in the eighth inning as they took the first of a four-game set in Pittsburgh over the Dodgers, 4-1. The game featured a controversial call in which Don Mattingly and Juan Uribe were run. It was that kind of a night.
Fresh off a win to avoid an embarrassing sweep against the Mets, Chad Billingsley took the mound and did everything he could to get two in a row. Unfortunately, a combination of bad hitting and bad luck prevented that from happening.
The Dodgers did score in the first. With one out, Aaron Miles singled, and Andre Ethier followed with another on a hit and run. Matt Kemp then struck out, setting it up for the ice cold Uribe. Finally, though, Uribe came through, this time with an RBI single for the 1-0 lead.
Andrew McCuthchen flashed some serious leather to stop any more runs from scoring in the third. With Miles on first and one out, Kemp lifted a long fly to deep center. McCutchen made a great catch at the wall, and doubled up Miles at first, who obviously thought it was going to land. The sad part is that would not be the last time the Dodgers would run into trouble on a catch in the outfield.
In the third, the Pirates got on the board. Ronny Cedeno singled leading off, and Jose Tabata walked with two down. That walk would hurt, as Garrett Jones's RBI single tied the game at 1-1.
The controversial call of the night occurred in the eighth. Kemp led off and was beaned. Uribe then hit a sinking liner to left in which Tabata made a sliding play on. Replays showed the ball bounce... but of course you can't look at the replay on plays like this, and sure enough, it was called an out. Kemp took off on the "hit" and was doubled off first.
Once the Dodgers returned to the field, a frustrated Uribe and Mattingly were ejected for arguing. I guess it's wrong to complain when you're right. Whatever.
Anyway, the ejections ended up energizing the Pirates, not the Dodgers. The bottom of the eighth saw Billingsley still in the game. He walked Jones leading off, then gave up an RBI double to Neil Walker to make it 2-1. Hong-Chih Kuo then entered, and 68-year-old Lyle Overbay lined an RBI double, followed by Ryan Doumit doing the same. Lo and behold, it was 4-1.
The Dodgers did put two on with one out in the ninth. But these are the Dodgers keep in mind, so nothing came of it as Joel Hanrahan earned his 11th save.
On one hand, I was glad to see some fire in these boys, as they have a tendency to slightly put people to sleep. OK, they are as flat out boring as they want to be. If Ethier and Kemp aren't getting hits, then you can forget about any excitement. It's just not going to happen.
Billingsley battled like crazy, and deserved a better fate then getting his second loss. He ended up going seven innings for seven hits, three runs, three walks, and four strikeouts. It's a shame he didn't get any support, but such is life with this team.
Kuo didn't look good at all, which unfortunately isn't very surprising these days. He does have an 11.57 ERA after all. Give credit to Mike MacDougal for getting three big outs to close the eighth to at least keep the game close. He's been excellent this year with a 1.46 ERA. Who would have thought that?
I'm not sure what the Dodgers can do to get their offense going. Rafael Furcal being injured (again) hurts. Guys like Uribe and Loney have got to do something. But then again, I've been saying this since the start of the season. I think the ship may have sailed on Loney. He shows absolutely nothing offensively that makes me think he can be a threat. And that's just the truth.
The Dodgers have three games left in Pittsburgh, and they're pretty big. Really, they are. If they lose a couple more, then that's another mediocre team they didn't beat. If they can't beat those types of teams, who can they beat? That's a scary thought.
Ted Lilly will get the call on Tuesday. He's in a slump himself, as he has yet to really find any consistency. He's definitely a control pitcher, so I guess he hasn't had much control yet. Let's hope that changes and fast.
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