After opening the season with their two aces Jake Peavy and Chris Young, the Padres are starting 32-year old Walter Silva, making his first major league start after years of pitching in the Mexican Winter League. Tony Jackson of the Daily News has some details of his rise from Baldwin Park semipro to Major League starting pitcher. The Dodgers have been far too kind to pitchers making their first major league starts. In the past nine such instances, dating back to 2001, the Dodgers are 2-7:
| Pitcher | Team | IP | H | ER | BB | K | Result |
| Wade Leblanc | SD | 4.0 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | Dodgers win, 6-4 |
| Chris Volstad | Fla | 8.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | L, 1-3 |
| Eddie Bonine | Det | 5.1 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2 | L, 7-12 |
| Jack Cassel | SD | 5.2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 5 | L, 4-6 |
| Franklin Morales | Col | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | L, 4-7 |
| John Koronka | ChC | 5.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | L, 5-9 |
| Brad Halsey | NYY | 5.2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | L, 2-6 |
| Ben Hendrickson | Mil | 5.0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | W, 5-2 |
| Jason Middlebrook | SD | 6.0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | L, 4-6 |
| Totals | 50.2 | 57 | 26 | 15 | 29 | 4.62 ERA |
Outside of maybe Chris Volstad last season, none of these pitchers really had their way with the Dodgers, but the Dodgers have just been unlucky as a team in these games.
However, the Dodgers have their best weapon to combat this bad luck in the form of their best pitcher, Chad Billingsley. This would be a good time for Chad to start his drive to become another Dodger pitcher to finish 2nd in the Cy Young vote.
Don't forget to make your game score guess for todays game up until game time. Yesterday's winner was the Xeifrank who was the only one to pick the Padres. We boo him for his dastardly deed, but praise him for his prescient pick.
Phil Pick to click tonight - Chad dominates