Chad Billingsley is slowing starting to turn some heads, one dominant start after another.
Bills followed up his fantastic first start against the Padres by limiting the Pirates to one run over six innings, and the Dodgers beat the Pirates again, 4-1. The win gives the Dodgers a hot 5-1 start, their best start since 1999. I was just about to graduate high school at the time. Just thought you'd like to know.
Anyway, Bills had a tough act to follow after setting the bar so high in San Diego (8 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 11 strikeouts). If there's one thing that's been consistent about him, it's that he's inconsistent. That's his biggest hurdle to climb.
With nothing doing through two innings, the Pirates struck in the second. Old Rockie Clint Barmes (yes, he still plays baseball) led off with a solo shot just over Jerry Hairston's reach in left. The Dodgers answered in the bottom of the frame, as Mark Ellis walked, went to second on Matt Kemp's single, and scored on Juan Rivera's first of three RBIs.
Both teams played to a standstill, as Erik Bedard was just as good as Bills for much of the game. In the sixth, however, the Dodgers took the lead for good. Shockingly, it started with a single by Kemp. Rivera did the same for two on. Andre Ethier, hitting #5 against the lefty Bedard, came though again with an RBI single, and a 2-1 lead.
Two more runs were added the next inning. The top of the order started it all, as Dee Gordon doubled leading off. Ellis and Kemp both struck out, but Rivera got another big hit with an RBI single to go up 3-1. Ethier singled, and Tony Gwynn hit a pinch-hit RBI single by make it 4-1.
The game was turned over to the bullpen for the final three frames, and that's a good thing if you're a Dodger fan. Matt Guerrier pitched a perfect seventh, Kenley Jansen gave up one single in the eighth, and Javy Guerra pitched a perfect ninth, highlighted by striking out Garrett Jones to end the game for his fourth save.
The Pirates aren't as bad as they used to be, but with all due respect to them, these are winnable games for the Dodgers. When you looked at the schedule before the season and saw that they'd be playing the Padres and Pirates to open up the year, a hot start was a realistic possibility. So far, so good.
Even with mediocre competition, the Dodgers still had to go out and get the job done, and they have. In their wins, they've gotten great starting pitching, big hits from Kemp, Ethier, Gordon, and even Rivera, and the bullpen has closed the door. You know the offense won't pound the ball every night, so the pitching is key to keeping them in games. Like I said before, so far, so good.
Speaking of Rivera, let's give the guy lots of credit here. Last year he played in 60 games and collected 46 RBIs. This year, thanks to a 3-for-4 night on Wednesday, he's hitting a red hot .364 with no strikeouts. His days of powering 20+ homers are over, but he's showing how to still be effective by having good at-bats. It's no wonder why Don Mattingly trusts him so much.
The Dodgers will look for the sweep on Thursday night. Chris Capuano went from awesome to wild in his first start against the Padres, thanks to good old ball 4. He'll look to put it all together against Jeff Karstens.
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