Dodgers Stopped by the Twins

In the second inning, with no one warming up in the bullpen, Grady Little called time out. If he’s not going to take out the pitcher, Little usually sends pitching coach Rick Honeycutt to the mound.

Not this time, not with rookie Chad Billingsley in desperate need of a course correction.

“I just had something I wanted to get across to the kid,” said Little, the Dodgers’ manager. “It’s not something I wanted to relay through Honeycutt.”

The message: You’re a major league pitcher capable of getting major league hitters out. Start acting like it.

Billingsley did, albeit too late to save himself or the Dodgers in an 8-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Monday at the Metrodome. The coming weeks will tell whether he can save his spot in the starting rotation and help the Dodgers maintain their tenuous hold on first place in the National League West.

Of course, by the time Billingsley pitches again, the Dodgers might not be in first place. They have lost 13 consecutive road games against American League teams. In the final two games of this series, they face two of the hottest starters in the AL, Francisco Liriano tonight and Johan Santana on Wednesday.

Joe Mauer, who leads the major leagues with a .377 batting average, had four hits and drove in a career-high five runs for the Twins. Leadoff batter Luis Castillo scored four runs, the three batters behind him all reached base four times and the resurgent Twins won for the 13th time in 14 games.

Billingsley arrived two weeks ago, with trumpets blaring. But he is 21, one year removed from double A, and on Monday he pitched accordingly. In his third major league start, he pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up six runs and seven hits, with seven walks and a hit batter.

When Little visited Billingsley in the second inning, he had faced 13 batters and nine had reached base.

The Twins had four runs, four hits, four walks and a hit batter, and Billingsley had thrown more balls (25) than strikes (22).

“That’s not nearly good enough,” Little said. “He had to pay for it.”

It could have been worse. The Twins had the bases loaded in the first inning when Torii Hunter nearly hit a grand slam. His drive sailed barely wide of the left-field foul pole, and on the next pitch -- a 98-mph fastball -- he grounded into an inning-ending double play.

With that kind of stuff, results should follow. That, basically, is what Little told Billingsley: Trust your stuff. It’s good enough. You’re good enough.

“I’m more of a power pitcher who just pounds the zone,” Billingsley said. “I found myself just trying to pick on the corners. It just gets me into trouble.”

By the time Little visited the mound in the second inning, Honeycutt already had been there once, catcher Russell Martin twice.

The Dodgers’ bullpen is so spotty -- the Twins were five for 11 against relievers Hong-Chih Kuo and Danys Baez -- that the team cannot afford short starts. Yet Billingsley has thrown too many pitches to go long -- 98 in 5 1/3 innings in his first start, 97 in five in his second start, 103 in 5 2/3 on Monday.

He threw 24 pitches in the first inning, 26 in the second. He also threw nine pitches in the third and nine in the fourth.

That is progress enough, and for now Billingsley stays in the rotation.

“We’re committed to that,” Little said. “We feel confident he’s going to get the job done.”

With Brett Tomko possibly headed for the disabled list and Odalis Perez replacing him for at least one start, the Dodgers might have no choice.