Guerra bends but doesn't break

Javy Guerra had every reason to come unglued in the ninth inning Friday night. After being given the ball in a rare save opportunity, he quickly watched the bases become loaded with no outs.

Then Guerra relaxed, and three batters later, had his third save.

It was a roller coaster of emotions late in the game, but the Dodgers held onto their slim lead in downing the Padres, 1-0. The win makes two straight after dropping the previous five.

Chad Billingsley was matched up with Mat Latos, and both pitchers refused to budge in allowing the first run for most of this one. That's not to say either team didn't have chances, as the Padres left 11 men on base and the Dodgers seven.

The Padres had some good scoring chances throughout the game, but Billingsley would continuously come up with the big pitches when he needed. In the first, Will Venable singled leading off, stole second, and went to third on a flyout. The next two hitters stranded him there.

In the third and fourth, the double play ball became Billingsley's best friend, as each inning ended in this manner. Jason Bartlett pulled the trick first, and then Cameron "Tiki" Maybin followed it up with two on in the next inning.

As far as Dodgers' scoring chances, well, you can forget about that through seven innings. Just how lost were they against Latos? It took until the eighth inning for a runner to reach second base. In the previous seven, they had only four baserunners. Not exactly a recipe for success. Thankfully the Padres were awful hitting with runners on.

Once Billingsley worked around a two on and one out situation in the top of the eighth, the offense finally got something done in the bottom of the frame. A.J. Ellis led off with a single to left. He was lifted for pinch-runner Trent Oeltjen, and Jamey Carroll hit for Bills and sacrificed Oeltjen to second.

Tony Gwynn hit a soft liner that just made its way to right, but Oeltjen could only get to third as he had to hold up for a potential catch. Rafael Furcal stepped in, and to say he's been struggling since returning from the DL would be an understatement. At this point he was hitting .105 (2-for-19), so I guess he was due. His RBI single into right scored the game's first, and only, run of the game.

Then the ninth came, and if you can recall, Don Mattingly quietly named Guerra his closer some time ago. You wouldn't know that because the Dodgers never have a save opportunity for one reason or another. But Guerra got his chance, and right away watched "Tiki" Maybin double to the wall in center. Anthony Rizzo saw one pitch and was beaned in the foot. Rob Johnson squared around to bunt and was drilled, and was given first after some deliberation if it hit his hand or bat.

So here we were, the bases loaded and nobody out. What Guerra had going for him was that the Padres are just horrendous in driving runners in. As much as I might complain about the Dodgers in these situations, the Padres are that much worse. Padre fans, I feel for ya. This can't be easy to watch.

Anyway, Kyle Phillips pinch-hit and struck out on a full count for the first out. Venable stepped in and also struck out. Bartlett had a two-strike count, hit a liner to center, but Matt Kemp made a good play on it for the last out.

Billingsley upped his record to 8-7 with his fourth straight good start. That's not to say he was flawless, but like I said before, he was big when they needed him. He lasted eight innings for four hits, no runs, five walks, and four strikeouts. Five starts ago he was shelled against the Reds for seven runs in four innings to put his ERA at 4.65. Now that he's settled down and doing a much better job at mixing pitches, his ERA is 3.87.

Two more wins this weekend would get the Dodgers to 10 games under .500. Is that good? Uh, no. But at least they'd be out of the cellar in the NL West. The next goal would be overtaking the Rockies for third, as they too had a five-game losing streak this past week.

First things first, as each team has two more battles before the All-Star break. The Dodgers send Rubby De La Rosa to the mound against a returning Aaron Harang. It's a FOX game, so it'll be Braves-Phillies in my neck of the woods. I guess it'll be XM Radio time for me.