You can’t say there are many teams the Dodgers have enjoyed playing this season. The team is inconsistent to the point that consecutive wins are hard to come by, and winning streaks , other than an eight-game stretch B.F.I. (Before Furcal’s Injury), are few and far between.
Yet nothing is as welcome to the Dodgers’ eyes as a series with the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers haven’t lost to the Reds at home since August 27, 2005, and overall are 19-5 against the Reds since the start of the 2005 season. Tuesday night was another addition to the win column, with the 3-1 Dodgers victory snapping a five-game losing skid and, incredibly, moving them a game closer to Arizona, which was routed 15-1 by Oakland.
Chad Billingsley threw 6⅓ superb innings, surrendering one run and improving to 5-7 on the season. Billingsley’s fifth win puts him into a tie with Brad Penny for the team lead; Penny has lost his last seven decisions, and no Dodger starter has a winning record. Additionally, Billingsley’s position as Dodger ace may have been solidified with Penny going to the disabled list yesterday, with Eric Stults to replace him Thursday against these same Reds. Then again, the way Penny has been pitching lately, he may have been the worst of the Dodger starters.
Additionally, the inconsistent Hiroki Kuroda may be joining Penny on the DL, depending on the results of the tests he will undergo in L.A. So, to review: If Kuroda misses a turn, the Dodgers rotation will be Billingsley, Stults, Derek Lowe, Clayton Kershaw, and likely Hong-Chih Kuo or Chan-Ho Park moving from the bullpen to the fifth starter role. On the disabled list: Penny, Kuroda (?) and Jason Schmidt. If this is an arms race, Arizona is the U.S. (Webb, Haren, Johnson, Davis, Owings), San Francisco is the U.S.S.R. (Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Wilson) and the Dodgers are some small insignificant country that doesn’t have nuclear capability. Like Djibouti.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s game, the Dodgers got three runs, which to Joe Torre must’ve felt like being back on the 21st century Murderer’s Row Yankees. The top of the lineup made enough noise, with Juan Pierre and Russell Martin each hitting an RBI double and Jeff Kent going 3-for-4. However, the Dodgers hit into inning-ending double plays in the fourth and eighth innings, limiting the Dodgers to a single run in each frame. They likely can’t get away with such play against other opponents, but against the Reds these mistakes didn’t come back to haunt the Dodgers, at least for tonight.
The Reds could get nothing going against the Chad. With Ken Griffey Jr. out despite being honored for hitting his 600th homer, the free-swinging Reds struck out 12 times. Rookie phenom Jay Bruce had three of those punchouts en route to an 0-for-4 night. The Reds’ only offensive threat came in the sixth, but Joe Beimel cleaned up the Chad’s mess by allowing only one run and preserving the lead.
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