Dodgers crush Giants, 10-0, behind Chad Billingsley, Matt Kemp

Then there are those pristine afternoons where everything goes so perfectly according to plan, the wonder becomes how it doesn’t occur more commonly.

The Dodgers had their way with the Giants again Saturday, rolling past them for a 10-0 victory at AT&T; Park to pull within one game of San Francisco in the National League West.

Not much more could have gone right for the Dodgers. Chad Billingsley pitched like a guy who really wants to be a No. 2 pitcher, the new middle of the lineup continued to produce as designed and even the back end kept it rolling.

The Dodgers, shut out in all three games the last time they were here, collected a season-high eight extra-base hits, including Matt Kemp’s two-run shot that got things rolling in the first andA.J. Ellis’ solo shot in the seventh. Kemp added a pair of run-scoring doubles and went four for five with four runs batted in on the day.

It was more than enough for Billingsley, who put together his second consecutive excellent start after going 0-5 with a 6.21 earned-run average in his previous five outings.

Billingsley (6-9) threw strikes, kept the Giants off-balanced and held them to a Buster Posey double in the second, an Angel Pagan double in the fifth, and singles from Marco Scutaro and Brandon Crawford in the eighth.

He wasn’t overpowering – he struck out two – but was around the plate all day. He did not walk a batter in his 7 1/3 scoreless innings. In his last start, Billingsley – who turns 28 on Sunday – held the Cardinals to one run in six innings.

Kemp started his big day and pushed his mini-slump (one for 18) behind him in the first inning with his two-run homer off Barry Zito.

Shortstop Luis Cruz extended his career-high hitting streak – and high for a Dodger this season – to 11 games with a single in the fifth, moved to third on an Ellis double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Billingsley.

The Dodgers added one more in the sixth when Hanley Ramirez flashed his speed, scoring aggressively from first on a on a double byJerry Hairston Jr., before putting the game away with a three-run seventh.

Ellis hit his eighth home run of the season to lead off the inning against George Kontos. Andre Ethier reached first on a two-out error by Crawford and scored on Kemp’s double. Ramirez doubled in Kemp for the third run.

Then just to bully the Giants around a bit, they added threw more in the ninth, one on Kemp’s second double and two on a Ramirez single.

Ethier even added a defensive gem in the bottom of the seventh, crashing into the right-field wall to snare a Melky Cabrera drive.Tony Gwynn Jr. replaced Ethier in right to start the eighth.

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