Knocking on September's door...

Cincinnati, OH

Chad Billingsley, an Ohio native and the rest of the Dodgers (76-52) open up a three game series with the Reds (55-71) at Great American Ball Park tonight. Billingsley (12-7, 3.73 ERA) enjoys pitching in his home state and boasts a record of 3-1 with a minimal 1.40 ERA when pitching vs. Cincinnati. He is still wearing a tightly wrapped bandage on his tender left hamstring. His opponent will be fellow right hander Homer Bailey (3-4, 6.82 ERA). In his one previous start against Los Angeles, Bailey lasted only 2 2/3 innings giving up 9 runs (six earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks on July 21st. Bailey did get past a dismal first two innings in Pittsburgh on Sunday earning his first win in his past five starts, giving up just one run in seven innings against the Pirates.

The Dodgers who now have improved their lead over the Rockies in the West to 4.0 games hope to increase that number over the weekend. They could get some help if the Giants can continue what LA did and cool off the Red-Hot Rockies as they start a three game series with Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, and Matt Cain going against Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Marquis, and Jason Hemmel respectively. Hopefully for the Dodgers, they are too busy pounding the Red Stockings back to Riverfront stadium to notice the battle going on back West. Skipper Joe Torre seemed optimistic and upbeat after the Colorado series saying,

"We just need to enhance our record. Our high-water mark was 27 games over .500. We came in here 23 games over and now we're 24 games over. You just hope to keep going in that direction." He also added, "We haven't been God-awful. Those guys have played their tail off."

When looking at the Dodgers offense, God-awful may not be too far off. With the exception of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier who have both bettered their career highs in Home Runs, Los Angeles has been mired in a sour patch as far as slugging is concerned. LA for most of the year has led the league in almost all offensive categories besides the long ball still lead the NL in hits (1,217) and team batting average (.274). As far as hitting for power though, they are 9th in 2B, 6th in 3B, and 13th of 16 NL teams in HR's hit. Ethier (27), Kemp (19), and Blake (16) all have more HR's than Manny Ramirez (13).