The Dodgers ended their dream of a perfect season early, dropping the second game of the season to Chris Young and the Padres tonight at Petco. The attendance was announced as 20,035, but on television it looked like half that were actually there.
Randy Wolf was solid through five innings, but the sixth inning proved his undoing. After retiring eight straiht batters, Wolf allowed a shift-buster single to where the shortstop usually plays, off the bat of Adrian Gonzalez. However, due to the shift Casey Blake was manning the position rather than the superior range of Rafael Furcal. A single and a two-run double later, both Wolf and the Dodgers lead were gone.
Trailing 4-2 in the seventh, the key at bat belonged to Orlando Hudson. Facing a wild Edwin Moreno, a pitcher making his major league debut, Hudson swung and missed at ball four, a low 3-1 pitch. One pitch later, with two runners on base via walk, and Manny Ramirez on deck, Hudson struck out. Moreno then got Manny to popout, and that was the end of the threat.
The Dodgers managed five walks tonight, but did not get a hit after Matt Kemp's fourth inning single. A bright spot for the Dodgers was Ronald Belisario, who made his own major league debut in the eighth inning. The surprise addition to the bullpen showed a live fastball, between 93 and 96 MPH (according to Gameday), as well as a sharp slider, in retiring the three batters he faced.
Chad Billingsley toes the rubber tomorrow at 7:05pm, against Walter Silva, a 32-year old making his major league debut. Tony Jackson has some details of Silva's past here.