The extended all-star break continued for the Dodger offense Wednesday night, as Dodger batters managed just one lonely run against the Giants in a 2-1 loss at AT&T Park.
Since the all-star break, the Dodger "attack" has mustered two or fewer runs in 29 of 57 games. In the first two games of this series against San Francisco, Los Angeles has just five hits in 57 at bats for a .089 team batting average.
It was Chad Billingsley's turn on this particular night to play the part of hard-luck Dodger pitcher. Despite pitching seven innings and giving up only one run on six hits to go along with seven strikeouts and two walks, Billingsley was pinned with his 10th loss of the year to go with his 11 victories.
Billingsley's fine effort added yet another chapter to one of the more feel-good stories of the year for the Dodgers. The 26-year-old righty lowered his ERA to 3.55 and more importantly, seems to have regained the confidence that eluded him second half of 2009.
The Dodgers would appear to have in Billingsley -- along with phenom Clayton Kershaw -- a solid one-two punch atop the rotation heading into 2011, a realization which serves, in the waning days of this disappointing 2010 season, as a much needed source of optimism.
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In the 24 hours since Kershaw's first career shutout Tuesday night, the Dodger blogosphere remained abuzz over what transpired. Phil Gurnee of True Blue LA has a fine piece on why Kershaw's performance was less revelation than it was confirmation of what the Dodger faithful have known all along.
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