The Dodgers have now lost two straight games 11 times this season. In each of the previous ten occurrences, the Dodgers responded with a win, outscoring their opponents 63 to 16. In those ten games, the starting pitchers have pitched 64.1 innings, allowing 41 hits and 15 walks, while striking out 56 batters, for an ERA of 1.40.
The role of losing streak stopper falls on Chad Billingsley today, who struggled recently but rebounded nicely by giving up two runs over six innings last Wednesday in the Manny Bobbleslam game.
Billingsley will square off against Adam Wainwright, who has put together a fine season so far. Even though Wainwright's ERA is about three-quarters of a run lower than Billingsley, the two pitchers have been more similar than you might think:
| Pitcher | IP | W-L | ERA | ERA+ | FIP | x-FIP |
| Wainwright | 143.1 | 11-6 | 2.95 | 141 | 3.61 | 3.71 |
| Billingsley | 133.0 | 10-5 | 3.72 | 112 | 3.50 | 3.91 |
Andre Ethier extended has an eight-game hitting streak, and is hitting .533/.600/.900 during the streak.
The Cardinals, fighting with the Cubs for first place in the NL Central, are just a half-game back entering tonight's game. As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted:
This is a remarkable stat from the Elias Sports Bureau: On Sunday the Cardinals loss to the Phillies dropped them out of first place and pushed the Cubs into the NL Central lead. Quote from Elias: "It was the first time since August 11, 1936 that the Cubs displaced the Cardinals as the first-place team in their league or division race this late in a season." Did a little digging beyond the Elias note, and if you think of the year you’ll quickly think about what else was going on at that time. For context, that is the day this happened:
On August 11, 1936, in Berlin, U.S. track icon Jesse Owens won the gold medal in the long jump, defeating Germany’s Lutz Long.
Get your guesses in for "Clogging The Bases" here.
Game Time: 5:15pm
TV: KCAL