Los Angeles Dodgers DO Have an Ace: The Bullpen

Chad Billingsley continuously runs into one bad inning. Last night, it was a four-run, six-hit fifth inning that turned out to provide the decisive runs in a 4-1 loss. Entering the frame, he had retired the first 13 batters of the game. In reality, he didn’t throw that poorly against Arizona last night. He made a big mistake by throwing a down-and-in fastball to Brandon Allen, which ended up landing halfway up the pavilion in right field. "I was locating, even in the fifth inning," Billingsley said. "The pitch to Allen, I cut it a little bit and it came back over the middle." The Diamondbacks then scored two more runs, but they did so on back-to-back run scoring infield singles. On July 28, he carried a one-hitter into the sixth against St. Louis and then allowed six runs in the inning, en route to a 10-0 loss. Manager Joe Torre seems to think that perhaps Billingsley is his own worst enemy, making the game too much about mechanics and not about making outs...