Remember that modest five-game winning streak the Dodgers had recently? That's been quickly replaced by a more realistic three-game losing streak.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Dodgers have returned to their crappy ways.
The Dodgers somehow left more men on base (eight) than they had hits (seven) as they lost to the Giants, 5-0. It was a close game until the sixth when everything fell apart. Not that it mattered because they didn't score one damn run anyway.
Both Chad Billingsley and Ryan Vogelsong worked around a bit of early trouble to put up blanks through three. In the top of the fourth, Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera singled with one out. James Loney hit a comebacker to the mound that Vogelson bobbled and still managed to turn the double play. It's safe to say Loney hasn't exactly been training with Usian Bolt lately. Could he have possibly been any slower?
Sure enough, the Dodgers' inability to score when the opportunity presented itself cost them, as Pablo Sandoval took a high fastball and made a splashdown to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. The Dodgers have to scratch and claw, and they still can't score, and the Giants get a run on one swing. So it goes for the Dodgers this year.
The sixth brought more frustration, as the Dodgers blew another chance, only to see the Giants run away with the game. Aaron Miles and Andre Ethier started things off with singles. The Dodgers had just the guy they wanted up in Kemp, who promptly grounded into a double play. Rivera then popped up, and just like that, that was it.
The Giants saw Mike Fontenot and Sandoval lead off with singles, and the beatdown was on from there. Nate Schierholtz hit an RBI single to make it 1-0. Aubrey Huff struck out, but Cody Ross hit a two-run double, followed by an RBI single from Brandon Crawford, and it was 5-0. Matt Guerrier had to put out the fire to escape the inning.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the seventh on a single by Juan Uribe, a ground rule double by Jamey Carroll, and a walk to Rafael Furcal. In true Dodger fashion, Miles grounded out to end the inning.
It was over after that. The Dodgers rolled over and played dead the last two innings, going down in order both times. Shocking... or not.
Billingsley showed you why he can both look great and then come crashing back to Earth. The good: one run in five innings. The bad: four runs in the sixth to put this game out of reach. He ended up with 5 1/3 innings for nine hits, five runs, no walks, and four strikeouts. It's not really a surprise, though. He just isn't consistent enough to be a big-time pitcher. He's a middle of the rotation guy, and that's just reality.
The bullpen at least did a good job. Guerrier got out of the sixth with a couple of outs with one hit. Scott Elbert pitched a perfect seventh with a strikeout, and Blake Hawksworth pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts. It didn't matter, but at least they did well.
Once again, the lack of power hitting really hurt the Dodgers. If Kemp isn't hitting homers, then nobody is. They rank nearly last in the majors in stats like slugging and OPS. They're about middle of the pack in hits, but low once again in doubles and homers. Adding guys like Rivera won't make the difference. It's just another hopeless attempt at adding someone with past stats (Marcus Thames, Jay Gibbons) and hoping he'll find his groove again. Not gonna happen.
With another loss and a win by the Padres, the Dodgers would once again be in the basement of the NL West. If that doesn't convince Ned Colletti that he should be a seller with the trade deadline coming up, I don't know what will. Time to face reality and get some young guys.
Two guys with ERA's of 3.74 will take the mound tonight, as Rubby De La Rosa will go against Madison Bumgarner.
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