Billingsley Keeps Dodgers Rolling

It may not be long now before the Dodgers are partying like it’s 1899. They’d certainly settle for 1988, the last year they won a World Series title, but with a cast of new and unlikely heroes continually emerging to lead this charge, there’s no telling how deep historians might have to plunge into the record books before this season ends.

The latest Dodgers protagonist was Chad Billingsley, an erratic rookie right-hander who needed a strong outing to remain entrenched in the rotation. He responded with a command performance Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, pitching seven shutout innings and combining with two relievers on a three-hitter during the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory over the Florida Marlins.

Kenny Lofton broke up a scoreless tie in the seventh inning when he slapped a run-scoring double into the left-field corner, and the Dodgers piled on three more runs in the inning on their way to their 17th victory in 18 games. It is the best stretch in franchise history since the 1899 Brooklyn Superbas won 20 of 21 games.

“We’ve got to keep pushing and striving to do better because there’s no telling how many games we can win,” said catcher Russell Martin, whose leadoff single in the seventh inning ignited a four-run rally.

Billingsley exhibited pinpoint control, striking out a career-high nine batters and issuing a career-low one walk, one start after walking six in only five innings. That outing had prompted Manager Grady Little to say that he was considering alternatives for a pitcher who was averaging 5 2/3 innings per start.

But Billingsley pitched deeper into a game Tuesday than he had since going seven innings July 18 at Arizona and became the winner when the Dodgers tagged reliever Randy Messenger for four runs after Billingsley departed in the middle of the seventh inning.

“I just pounded the zone with all my pitches and threw everything for strikes,” said Billingsley, who had walked 47 in 61 1/3 innings before Tuesday, when his only walk came against the second-to-last batter he faced. “I was aggressive with all my pitches; I guess it was just trusting my stuff.”

Jonathan Broxton and Aaron Sele each pitched a scoreless inning for the Dodgers, who have put together the hottest stretch of any National League team since the 1986 New York Mets won 17 of 18. The Dodgers lead the NL West by a season-high 3 1/2 games over San Diego and today will go for a season sweep of the Marlins.

Billingsley (4-3) beat the Marlins for the second time in 11 days and improved to 4-1 with a 1.76 earned-run average since the All-Star break. One key to his success Tuesday was his ability to put away batters with two strikes, retiring 14 of 16 batters who reached that count.

“We’re very proud of what Chad was able to do out there,” Little said of Billingsley, who gave up three hits and allowed only one Marlin to reach third base. “He was in complete control from the first pitch of the game. He’s not the finished product yet, but he’s going to be around here for a long time.”

Florida assembled its only scoring threat in the sixth when Miguel Olivo and Alfredo Amezaga singled on consecutive pitches with nobody out. But Billingsley retired the next three batters, getting Dan Uggla to strike out chasing an 84-mph slider to end the inning.

After squandering a bases-loaded threat in the fifth and a two-on, none-out opportunity in the sixth against Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez, the Dodgers finally broke through against three relievers during a seventh inning in which they sent 10 men to the plate

“We just feel like something’s going to happen, someone’s going to get a big hit, and it’s a different person every night,” said Martin, who singled to right-center field leading off the inning and went to second base on pinch-hitter Ramon Martinez’s sacrifice. Rafael Furcal then walked before Lofton hit his double to left field, driving in Martin with the only run Billingsley would need.

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Pulling strings

The Dodgers have never been 17-1 in any stretch of games since moving to L.A. The Dodgers’ best streaks (with runs for and given up and year-end record):

*--* Year Streak RF-RA Rec. 2006 17-1 95-42 1962 16-2 113-66 102-53 1976 16-2 94-65 92-70 1977 16-2 107-59 98-64 2004 16-2 107-58 93-69

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Source: baseball-reference.com