Dodger pitcher Chad Billingsley
It wasn’t Chad Billingsley’s fault that the Dodgers didn’t win again. He pitched six decent innings. He gave up three runs, but he kept the Dodgers in the game. He couldn’t help it if the batters weren’t able to bring anybody home.
“We don’t have any problem getting the hits,” said Dodger Manager Don Mattingly after losing to the Padres, 6-3, on Jackie Robinson Night. “We’re just having trouble cashing them in.”
Ya think? The Dodgers have 114 hits so far this season, tied for eighth among Major League teams. They have scored 37 runs. That’s 27th place in the league. They have left 109 men on base in 13 games. That’s more than eight stranded runners per game.
The Dodgers left nine on in the first game with San Diego since the melee that cost us Zack Greinke. Once again, Ronald Belisario got the loss, not that he cares. His laissez-faire demeanor just irks me.
It hurts more to lose after coming from behind to tie it up than it does to just be bad from the start. When you tie it up, it feels like the mo-mo has changed and you’re going to go on to win. But then Skip Schumaker hits into a double-play with two men in scoring position, and the momentum dies before your very eyes. Depressing.
This is how I remember Harrison Ford when I met him in 1977.
Another thing that was depressing: In 1977, I met Harrison Ford at a cast and crew screening of “Star Wars.” He was young and handsome and not yet famous. When I saw him toss the first pitch to Mattingly, he looked so damn old! How could so much time have passed? I still feel like a teenager!
Piewalla's Dodger Blues 