Uh Oh...

Well, they've been doing what they need to do - beat up on the bad teams and be over .500 and this road trip and that's what they're going to do. However, after 2 impressive wins in beautiful, empty PNC Park against the lowly Pirates, they're getting their asses handed to them tonight, down 15-8 as I write this blog. The Walking Injury got guess what? That's right. Injured again. This time during one of his more impressive games in a rare start at first base against the lefthanded Ian Snell. He was rounding 3rd and Bowa stopped him suddenly. Thirds base coach, Larry Bowa should know that Nomar Garciaparra's fragile body simply cannot handle any sudden stops or unexpected movements. He went down awkwardly on his left knee and, even though he was able to walk off the field, it didn't look good. Not an integral member of the team, but still, with Loney not hitting a whole lot, it was helpful to have him.

The thing that really disturbed me was how poorly Billingsley and the bullpen pitched. Chad looked like crap from the first inning on and the home he gave up to catcher, Ryan Doumit was a blast, as was the grand slam he allowed against Adam LaRoche. LaRoche's grand slam was the 2nd of 2 dongs he hit against Billingsly. He looked tired. He was leaving the ball up all night and the Pirates only have 4 guys on their whole team who can hit. The last thing the Dodgers need is their ace to go into a Brandon Webb-like swan dive. Hopefully, it's just the one awful outing and Billingsley can rebound. Too bad Scott Proctor is back. But the other Scott - Elbert, the highly touted prospect out of Vegas - looked like holy hell. Games like that can really screw with a kid's confidence. This game certainly screwed with MY confidence in him. The problem is Torre will use the Scotts too much and that's not good. The 8 or 9 hits in a row the Buckos got after 2 outs and no one on in the 7th was a complete disgrace. The Dodgers pen is inconsistent, especially without Kuo, who's resting his sore arm (never a good thing to hear when your team is heading for the Playoffs) and it's the time of year where Torre needs to stop using guys who have proven themselves unreliable.

SO, the magic number will likely remain at 8 because the Snakes are doing exactly what I was afraid of - going on a roll. They're beating up on the Midget Giants as we speak and if the Dodgers lose tomorrow morning in Pittsburgh, LOOK OUT! I think the Snakes may have a decent chance of catching them. Bottom line is you simply cannot afford to lose to teams like Pittsburgh when you're in a race to clinch a division. Especially when your ace is on the mound. I have an eerie feeling.