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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers are having trouble getting on a roll and the culprit, surprisingly, has been herky-jerky starting pitching.

Clayton Kershaw dominated Sunday. Ted Lilly stunk up the place Monday. Hyun-Jin Ryu dealt Tuesday. Josh Beckett looked like he didn't want to throw the ball Wednesday evening, setting a discordant tone in the Dodgers' 7-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Beckett seemed frozen in amber for the early innings, launching the game on a glacial pace and putting Dodgers' defenders on their heels. The team showed some fight, but never really recovered.

The first three innings were drawn out over nearly two hours, much of that time Beckett simply staring in at catcher A.J. Ellis' mitt. He spotted Colorado a 3-0 lead when he allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base (one of them on a routine grounder that clanked off Hanley Ramirez’s glove for an error).

Beckett lasted only four innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks.

One month into the season, Beckett (0-4, 5.24 ERA) still is looking for his first win. He has had some good starts, notably that April 14 masterpiece in Arizona, but he has also failed to get through six innings in four of his six starts. The Dodgers are 1-5 when he pitches.

His short outing put some more weight on the Dodgers’ bullpen, which had to soak up six innings in a 12-2 loss Monday and had to mop up for Beckett two days later.

Ramirez was a little slow at times, too, such as when he stood at home plate admiring his opposite-field "home run" in the bottom of the first inning. It wasn’t a home run. The ball landed on the warning track and Ramirez had to kick it into gear to pull into second base standing up.

One encouraging trend has been the rapid return of Ramirez’s hitting. After missing nearly six weeks recovering from thumb surgery, Ramirez has two doubles and a home run and is 5-for-9 in two starts. In the team's other 25 games, all other Dodgers shortstops combined have two extra-base hits.

LOS ANGELES -- A night after playing their worst game of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally looked like the total package.

Korean pop star Psy danced in the aisle next to the Dodgers' dugout (in front of a bored-looking Tommy Lasorda) in the fourth inning. All the while, his countryman, Hyun-Jin Ryu, was tying the Colorado Rockies in knots. Ryu struck out 12 batters in six innings of the Dodgers' 6-2 win in front of 47,602 fans at Dodger Stadium.

It certainly appears Ryu is making a comfortable transition from the Korean Baseball Organization. He is 3-1 with a 3.35 ERA after six starts, and he has just one fewer strikeout than ace Clayton Kershaw's 47 (with two fewer walks).

Ryu's dozen strikeouts were the most by a Dodgers rookie since another pitcher, Hideo Nomo, was making the leap from Japan. Nomo struck out 13 New York Mets on Aug. 20, 1995.

Meanwhile, Hanley Ramirez returned to the Dodgers' lineup -- on the night the Dodgers gave away his "I See You" bobbleheads -- and had a home run and double.

The Dodgers' offense has a deeper look with Ramirez back in the fold. It swarmed all over Colorado pitcher Jorge De La Rosa, improving to 8-0 against the left-hander by scoring six runs in the first three innings. Two scrappy utility guys, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Nick Punto, set the table at the top of the order, and the larger guys behind them cleared it.

Matt Kemp finally cut down his swing and had an RBI single in the first inning. Ramirez hit a towering solo home run to left in the third inning and lined a double to center in the fourth.

Ramirez had played in just two minor league rehab games after missing about five weeks recovering from surgery to his right thumb. He did look a bit awkward at times making throws from shortstop while wearing a flexible splint on his right hand.

UPDATE (6:25 p.m.): The Dodgers activated Hanley Ramirez from the 15-day disabled list and placed Clayton Kershaw on the bereavement list for an undisclosed personal matter. Ramirez was not in the starting lineup.

LOS ANGELES -- After two rehab games in Class A Rancho Cucamonga, Hanley Ramirez returned to Los Angeles and joined his teammates in the Dodgers' clubhouse Monday.

He was not expected to join them on the field at game time, however. Ramirez could be taken off the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday (his bobblehead night), or he could still play in more minor league games, manager Don Mattingly said. Ramirez made his wishes fairly clear before Monday's series opener vs. the Colorado Rockies.

"I just want to be in there," Ramirez said. "I don't want to wait any longer. I'm a gamer. I just want to be in there and I think I can play."

Ramirez went 3-for-6 without an error in his two games playing shortstop in Rancho Cucamonga. He said throwing with a newly fitted splint is a bit awkward, but workable.

"It's not 100 percent, but I can defend myself on the field," Ramirez said.

The Dodgers have not made up their minds on whether to put Mark Ellis on the DL. He left Friday night's game with a strained right quadriceps and has been making steady progress since.

Also, pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who struck out 12 Milwaukee Brewers in eight shutout innings Sunday, was not with the Dodgers Monday. He was attending to an undisclosed personal matter, Mattingly said. The manager said he doesn't anticipate Kershaw missing his next scheduled start on Friday night in San Francisco.

Here are lineups for Monday:

Colorado
1. Dexter Fowler CF
2. Jordan Pacheco 1B
3. Carlos Gonzalez LF
4. Wilin Rosario C
5. Michael Cuddyer RF
6. Nolan Arenado 3B
7. Josh Rutledge 2B
8. Jonathan Herrera SS
9. Tyler Chatwood RHP

Dodgers
1. Carl Crawford LF
2. A.J. Ellis C
3. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
4. Matt Kemp CF
5. Andre Ethier RF
6. Skip Schumaker 2B
7. Luis Cruz 3B
8. Justin Sellers SS
9. Ted Lilly LHP

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw called himself “awful,” and said, “the team won in spite of me,” the last time he pitched.

Three starts into spring training and three weeks before Opening Day, he was seething with frustration after the San Diego Padres got some hits and scored some runs off him, saying, “I’m definitely looking to have a good start one of these days.”

So, while Kershaw’s two-game “slump” might have been the high point of some pitchers’ major league careers -- he got through the fifth inning and held the opponent to three runs or fewer both times -- you can assume Kershaw wasn’t basking in his awesomeness coming into Sunday.

“Every time he struggles, he’s going to be particularly focused that next outing,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

The Milwaukee Brewers happened to stumble into Kershaw after two mediocre outings and they found his focus laser-like. Kershaw struck out 12 Brewers Sunday, hitters flailing at an assortment of mid-90s fastballs, breaking balls and changeups. It was a more complete arsenal than Kershaw had shown in recent weeks. He adjusts his approach to the team he is facing -- in this case, a lineup stacked with right-handed batters -- and is thus more likely to be on top of his fastball.

“It’s good to see Kershaw back to himself,” Carl Crawford said.

Kershaw, who picked up his first win since April 6, left Dodger Stadium shortly after Sunday's start without speaking to reporters. A team spokesman said he had a personal matter to attend to. His numbers did a good job speaking for him. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles 55 years ago, according to ESPN Stats & Info, only six pitchers have struck out 12 batters without allowing a run or walking anybody in a start. The man Kershaw is relentlessly compared to, Sandy Koufax, did it four times. Nobody else has done it twice.

The next time Kershaw describes himself as “awful,” pity the team he’s about to face.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to wait for their best player to emerge from a month-long slump, but their best starting pitcher looks like he's back.

Clayton Kershaw struck out 12 Milwaukee Brewers in eight innings Sunday in a 2-0 Dodgers win. It was Kershaw's first win since April 6.

Matt Kemp, meanwhile, came off a nice road trip to go 2-for-9 in this three-game series while misplaying at least two balls in center field. Kemp, who is batting .261 with one home run after 88 at-bats, seems to be hitting a lot of slow rollers to shortstop.

Kershaw (3-2) was coming off two mediocre starts, but he was nearly as dazzling Sunday as he was on Opening Day. Sunday was the fifth time he has struck out as many as 12 batters, the first since June 9 of last year.

Kershaw had failed to get out of the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres and New York Mets in his two previous starts. The Brewers had action in the first two innings, but after that, they couldn't touch Kershaw.

Jonathan Lucroy hit into an inning-ending double play to wipe out a two-on threat in the first inning, and Jean Segura led off the second with sinking liner that was misplayed into a double by Kemp.

Kershaw retired the next 18 batters before Carlos Gomez lined a double to left-center field leading off the eighth. Kemp seemed to get a late read on the ball, which short-hopped the wall. Kershaw helped erase that threat by snaring Martin Maldonado's sharp grounder and getting Gomez in a rundown.

The Dodgers didn't do much against Milwaukee starter Kyle Lohse, but Carl Crawford continued to put on a show at Dodger Stadium. The speedy leadoff hitter hit two home runs. Crawford is batting .391 in home games.

LOS ANGELES -- A couple of days ago, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said a Monday return for All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez would be "a little optimistic." Then, Saturday happened.

Playing in a game at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, Ramirez went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly, fielded eight grounders and turned three double plays, with no issues making throws from shortstop while wearing a splint on his surgically repaired right thumb. After watching film of the performance, Mattingly said Sunday Ramirez could return from the disabled list before Monday's series opener against the first-place Colorado Rockies.

"I think anything's possible with the way he looked last night," Mattingly said.

Rancho Cucamonga is off Monday, so Ramirez would have to travel to Albuquerque to continue his minor league rehabilitation assignment, or travel to Stockton to stay with the Quakes. If Ramirez is activated Monday, he will have beaten the original prognosis by two weeks.

Ramirez played winter ball all the way through the Caribbean Series, then played in the World Baseball Classic before injuring his thumb in the finals on March 19. Mattingly thinks those competitive at-bats have speeded his return, allowing him to regain his timing faster than he otherwise would have.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to wait on second baseman Mark Ellis, who left Friday night's game with a strained right quadriceps. They could place Ellis on the 15-day disabled list while activating Ramirez Monday or Tuesday.

"I don't want to ever miss any time," Ellis said. "At the same time, you never want to handcuff a manager or your team."

The Dodgers looked as if they were figuring out creative ways to win, but a late-game meltdown cost them their second three-game winning streak of the season Wednesday night at Citi Field.

Matt Kemp hit his first home run of 2013 -- an opposite-field wall scraper -- and Mark Ellis and Jerry Hairston Jr. made clutch defensive plays late in the game, but the New York Mets' David Wright singled off Dodgers closer Brandon League with two outs to drive in the tying run in the ninth.

In the 10th, Jordany Valdespin needed only a fly ball (against a two-man outfield), but he instead ended the game with a grand slam off Josh Wall and the Mets escaped with a 7-3 win.

Pitcher Clayton Kershaw, one of the team's best bunters, had pinch-hit in the 10th inning and successfully advanced catcher A.J. Ellis, but Carl Crawford struck out and Skip Schumaker ended the inning with a groundout.

Ted Lilly, making his first start since last May, pitched five strong innings and the Dodgers had good enough at-bats against Mets phenom Matt Harvey to drive the hard-throwing right-hander out of the game after six innings. Harvey was bidding to become the 14th pitcher in the live-ball era to go at least seven innings and give up four or fewer hits in five straight starts.

Kemp's home run narrowly cleared the right-field wall and was originally ruled a triple after a security guard interfered with the ball just above the fence line and it bounced back into play. Umpires looked at the replay and awarded Kemp his first home run after beginning the season with 81 homerless plate appearances.

Clayton Kershaw is the kind of pitcher who can soothe a lot of stressed-out baseball fans and team executives.

You know what else can calm down a group of people whose heads are spinning over the sudden churning up of the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching depth? Scoring some runs.

Mark Ellis, also known as the guy people forget when they are listing Dodgers hitters who aren't struggling, powered the Dodgers to a 7-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field with a pair of home runs Tuesday.

That little dose of good news did a bit to settle the stomachs of those worried over the day's earlier news about Chad Billingsley being scheduled to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Kershaw had shaky command, the Mets had patient at-bats and drove him out of the game after just five innings and 111 pitches. Kershaw did what he often does in such situations: he slogged along enough for his team to have a shot.

As good as Kershaw is, he's not an island unto himself. The Dodgers, as usual, are built around pitching and defense, but the breakdown in their pitching depth has been less troubling than three weeks of anemic offense. For $230 million, you ought to be able to buy a little more than the 29^th-highest scoring team in baseball.

"We can't just rely on Kersh when he's out there,” Ellis said in a postgame TV interview on KCAL. "Sometimes, when he's out there I think we think he's going to be so good that we relax a little bit. We need to go out and score runs no matter who's pitching for us."

So, assuming that Tuesday was an indication the Dodgers won't stay in their slumps forever -- and don't make any judgments off Wednesday, when they face phenom Matt Harvey -- this pitching situation isn't really all that worrisome. It seems as if it is because of the condensed timing of the injuries, but it's really not.

(Read full post)

It would have been fun to see Clayton Kershaw and Matt Harvey pitch in the same game. In fact, it might have made for a perfect compare/contrast of the three best starters in the National League, since Harvey’s last start -- a win -- came against Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals.

You could pretty much take your pick of any of those three guys and build your franchise around him for the next 10 years.

The New York Mets have to contend with Kershaw on Tuesday night. The Dodgers have to deal with Matt Harvey on Wednesday night. Who has the tougher task? Probably anyone unlucky enough to be holding a bat.

I asked my friend Adam Rubin, who covers the Mets for ESPN New York, to give me a brief scouting report on Harvey:

Matt Harvey has taken his performance to another level after posting a 2.73 ERA in 10 starts last season, when he narrowly exceeded the innings-pitched limit and disqualified himself for NL Rookie of the Year consideration. Harvey has an explosive fastball that seems to take off as it approaches the plate. His average fastball velocity this season is 94.7 mph, trailing only Strasburg (95.6 mph) and Garrett Richards (94.9) in starts. Harvey typically leaves a little in reserve, and will flash a 98 mph fastball late in his outings when he needs a big out. Harvey also throws a slider, curveball and changeup.


His 102 strikeouts in his first 14 appearances are the third-most in Mets history, trailing only Dwight Gooden (107) and Nolan Ryan (103). ESPN’s Curt Schilling recently said he would take Harvey over Strasburg. Harvey is considered a mentally tough bulldog.


"He wants to be the best that there is in the game," manager Terry Collins said about Harvey. "The last time I ever heard someone say that was [Barry] Bonds. So it was a pretty big statement, I thought. All he’s done thus far is back it up."

I wonder if Kershaw might have a little something to say about that last statement. It’s not as if Kershaw looks like a guy who’s out there just to pick up paychecks and get in enough time to earn a pension.

In fact, Kershaw is just a year older than Harvey and, unlike the Mets phenom, he already has a Cy Young trophy lying around somewhere.

Mike Petriello did a piece recently placing Kershaw in his proper historical context and, suffice it to say, it’s quite a context.

When Kershaw struck out San Diego first baseman Yonder Alonso with a letter-high fastball in the second inning Wednesday night, he became just the 16th pitcher in big league history to strike out 1,000 hitters before the end of his age-25 season. The list is a who's who of pitching royalty, including seven Hall of Famers -- Bert Blyleven, Don Drysdale, Bob Feller, Catfish Hunter, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Hal Newhouser -- one active pitcher well on his way (Felix Hernandez) and one derailed only by off-field issues (Dwight Gooden).

And there's this:


In the history of the game, dating to the 19th century, exactly four pitchers have thrown as many innings as Kershaw has (972 1/3) through their age-25 season and allowed fewer than seven hits per nine innings.

The other three guys on that list, including the "Big Train," Walter Johnson, all began their careers more than a century ago.


One would assume that Thursday's game will be the rubber match since the pitching matchups are so lopsided in the first two games. Then again, those kinds of locks often fall apart in baseball series. It's an unpredictable sport. Maybe the Mets' Jonathon Niese or the Dodgers' Ted Lilly will match zeroes with them or maybe Kershaw or Harvey will just have a bad night.

But, based on their résumés, it would be a bad bet to count on such a thing.

The math is elementary. Eight minus four equals worrisome.

The Los Angeles Dodgers figured they had eight starting pitchers when they got back from Arizona. Seven of them made the Opening Day roster and one, Ted Lilly, would continue building up his arm strength while on the disabled list.

It wasn’t ideal, particularly for the players involved, but it was reassuring. The Dodgers were protected against three injuries to starting pitchers. How many other teams could say that?

But that state of equilibrium couldn’t hold. The Dodgers were pressured to trade Aaron Harang when they couldn’t find any way to use him. So, now they were protected against injuries to two of their pitchers. Still pretty good.

And then they got three injuries to starting pitchers in 10 days. Chad Billingsley was put on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with pain in the same elbow that put him on the DL twice last season. Once again, it appears as if he might be headed for season-ending Tommy John surgery. Perhaps they’ll go with the platelet-rich plasma therapy again, but that clearly didn’t work the first time.

Billingsley will be evaluated in Los Angeles Tuesday and, presumably, pick an option by the middle of next week.

Zack Greinke is already on the DL with a broken left collarbone and Chris Capuano is there with a strained left calf.

So, now, Steven Fife – who had to deal with all sorts of frustration in spring training stuck behind eight pitchers on guaranteed contracts -- is forced into action. The Dodgers are lucky they have a guy like him, a strike thrower with some major-league success. He had a 4.61 ERA in Triple-A, but that’s not all that bad when you’re pitching in the high desert.

Now, he just has to pick up that first major-league win.

For a team with the payroll and expectations of the Dodgers, these are the moments that can feel like that long pause before the roof caves in. And it just might. They had lost six in a row coming into Sunday. They aren’t hitting well enough to support mediocre pitching. The only night they’re guaranteed they won’t get that is when Clayton Kershaw jogs to the mound and they’ve offered Kershaw virtually no run support so far.

It is a moment of crisis. The way a team reacts to those -- and it’s rare that, over a six month season, a few don’t arrive -- can determine its postseason fate.

Forget about who can replace Billingsley in the rotation. To hold the line until Zack Greinke returns, perhaps in mid-June, the Dodgers have to hit. They will, at least better than they have so far. It's impossible to think they'll stay this bad, isn't it?

They entered Sunday 29^th in the majors in runs scored. That is both ridiculous, given what they’re paying these hitters, and likely unsustainable. Matt Kemp will either get it going or be asked to take a step back and let his shoulder heal more fully on the disabled list. Hanley Ramirez could be back in a couple of weeks, which might be a mixed blessing. His bat offers far more than Justin Sellers’, but his glove offers far less.

The Dodgers have been getting runners on base. What they’ve lacked is scoring hits, specifically home runs and hits with runners in scoring position. The resumes of their hitters suggest those trends won’t stay stuck on empty all year.

So, the Dodgers might want to tap into the vibe from early last season, when they won despite a bunch of no names. This team, depleted as it is, still has more talent every day it gets dressed.

They can either rally back from the bad luck or wallow in pity. Given their payroll, much of the country would love nothing more than to watch this team fail spectacularly.

“Nobody is going to sit there and feel sorry for us,” manager Don Mattingly told reporters Sunday.” We have to go out and play and win a game.”

It’s kind of that simple.

LOS ANGELES -- In a surprise to many, Clayton Kershaw got hit around by the San Diego Padres. In a surprise to few, the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn't come up with clutch hits.

The convergence produced an embarrassing three-game sweep, at home, to a team that entered this series with a 2-10 record. San Diego outscored the Dodgers 22-7 in the three games.

Kershaw, who had been machine-like in his first three starts, gave up solo home runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings in Wednesday's 7-2 loss, the Dodgers' fifth in the past six games.

Matt Kemp continues to strand runners at an alarming rate, even when he's not in the original lineup. Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and one out, Kemp struck out against reliever Dale Thayer.

On a 3-and-0 count, Thayer threw Kemp a fastball that appeared to be a tad low and outside. Kemp flipped his bat and began walking toward first base, but plate umpire Jeff Kellogg called a late strike. Thayer hit virtually the same spot two more times, with Kemp waving feebly at strike three.

Kemp, who had a ninth-inning sacrifice fly, is batting .182 through 15 games.

Kershaw picked up his 1,000th career strikeout when Yonder Alonso swung through a 93 mph fastball in the second inning. That made Kershaw, 25, the second-youngest Dodgers pitcher to reach the milestone after Fernando Valenzuela.

Kershaw buzzed through the first three innings, but things started falling apart right around the time Nick Punto dropped a foul popup for an error in the fourth. Kershaw had already allowed a leadoff home run to shortstop Everth Cabrera. He walked Chase Headley and Alonso. After Punto started a double play from his knees with a nice diving play, Kershaw allowed an RBI single to Kyle Blanks, who later hit his first home run of the season.

The more vexing concern for the Dodgers is an offense that seems to sputter in similar ways night after night. If Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez aren't doing it, it doesn't get done. Crawford led off the third inning with a single and stole second, eventually scoring on Gonzalez's sacrifice fly.

That was about the extent of the Dodgers' output. They loaded the bases with two outs against San Diego starter Tyson Ross, but Skip Schumaker tapped one back to reliever Brad Brach to end the inning.

The only team with a worse OPS with runners in scoring position than the Dodgers' is the Angels (and it's close). The Dodgers are averaging 2.67 runs per game. In nine home games, the Dodgers have hit three home runs.

It's not easy pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers these days, at least not if you're looking for a low-stress line of work.

Clayton Kershaw was too much for another National League lineup, pitching into the eighth inning and holding the Arizona Diamondbacks to six hits and striking out nine Friday night. But, again, he was walking on a highwire -- no runs to work with -- and, after he began losing his command in the eighth inning, things fell apart with the bullpen.

The Dodgers lost 3-0 at Chase Field. Kershaw fell to 2-1.

The Dodgers thought they had injected some swagger and power into their offense with a series of trades late last season, but so far the results have looked a lot like the 2012 team's output. Back then, the Dodgers had James Loney at first base, Juan Rivera in left field and Dee Gordon at shortstop. The cost per run has gone up considerably since then.

The Dodgers stranded 10 more base runners. They left the bases loaded in the fourth inning and two runners on base in the eighth.

Only one team, the Miami Marlins, has scored fewer runs than the Dodgers' 27 in 10 games so far. Coming into Friday, the Dodgers were hitting .147 with runners in scoring position, worse than every team in the majors aside from those Marlins. When the Dodgers and Marlins meet, they might want to go straight to penalty kicks.

The difference, of course, is that the Marlins just stripped down their team to the nuts and bolts while the Dodgers are carrying around the most expensive collection of baseball players in baseball.

It's going to be slow going this season if the offense doesn't pick up its pace. The Dodgers learned before Friday's game they had lost No. 2 starter Zack Greinke for at least two months because of a broken left collarbone.

For a while, it seemed as he could, but Kershaw can't go it alone.

Chad Billingsley didn't seem to miss a beat after an eight-month layoff, and some struggling hitters began to shake off their slumps as the Los Angeles Dodgers held on for a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park Wednesday night.

Making his first regular-season start since Aug. 24, 2012, Billingsley held the Padres to a run and five hits through six innings. His return to the rotation could give the Dodgers a formidable staff. They have Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw lined up to pitch the next two games.

Equally important from the Dodgers' perspective, Matt Kemp -- batting .120 coming into the game -- went 2-for-5 and Luis Cruz -- hitless coming in -- had a pair of hits to raise his average to .091.

The engine of the Dodgers' scoring continued to be Carl Crawford, who hit the second pitch of the game for a home run and later added a triple off the top of the left-field wall. Crawford, in his first season with the Dodgers after two trying years in Boston, is batting .464 and has scored eight of the team's 24 runs.

Just a few months ago, the Dodgers didn't know whether they could count on Billingsley this season. He spent two stints on the disabled list last season because of a sprained right elbow. One option on the table was Tommy John surgery. Instead, Billingsley elected to rehab the injury and he has had few signs of trouble so far. He hit 92 mph several times Wednesday and, at times, employed a good curveball.

Billingsley, who went 6-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his final seven starts of 2012, began this season on the disabled list because of a bruised finger, an injury he sustained near the end of spring training.

The Dodgers' bullpen, which had been nearly perfect before getting roughed up Tuesday, had some wobbly moments. Closer Brandon League gave up two runs and three hits in the ninth. The Padres also scored a run on A.J. Ellis' passed ball that, had he caught it, would have ended the game. League got Yonder Alonso to fly out, with the tying run on second, to end it.

In a radio interview with ESPN's Colin Cowherd on Wednesday morning, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke his, "1 and 1-A." That's a pretty strong entry, of course, but the Dodgers are hoping their rotation doesn't drop off after it to a field of longshots.

Chad Billingsley might be the best candidate to solidify the middle of the rotation as the No. 3 starter. But going into Billingsley's first start of the season tonight in San Diego, the Dodgers still have more questions than answers about him.

The sprained ligament in his elbow, which forced him on to the disabled list twice last season, seemed to hold up fine in spring training, but can they count on him staying healthy all year? If so, can he pitch to the level he did before the injury shut down his 2012 season?

"At the end of the year last year, before he got hurt, he was was as good as probably anybody out there," Mattingly said.

That's why the timing of the injury was so puzzling. In his final seven starts, Billingsley was 6-0 with a 1.80 ERA and he averaged seven strikeouts per game. In the 18 starts before that, Billingsley was 8-10 with a 4.30 ERA.

Making $11 million this season, Billingsley is being paid like a No. 2 or 3 starter. This would be an opportune time for him to show enough consistency to give the Dodgers what could be the deepest rotation in baseball.

Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke have been dominant so far. Hyun-Jin Ryu and Josh Beckett have been solid. In a way, though, the most impressive pitching has come when those guys have left games.

The Dodgers’ bullpen is bordering on perfect so far, having pitched 13 scoreless innings. Dodgers relievers collectively have allowed one hit and that was an infield jam shot that led to a bad throw from Nick Punto. It easily could have been ruled an error. No other major-league team has allowed fewer than 10 hits.

The San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates never even sniffed a late rally.

Part of the credit goes to Dodgers’ starters, who have kept the load light and allowed manager Don Mattingly to match up his late-inning pitchers favorably. Dodgers’ relievers have pitched the fewest innings in the majors.

Part of the credit goes to Mattingly, who has called the right names at the right times. Good bullpens can make a manager look good, but a good manager puts his relievers in positions to succeed. Young lefty Paco Rodriguez, for example, has faced just two right-handed batters and he struck out all three lefties he faced.

Will it last? With 156 games left, the chances of the Dodgers’ bullpen finishing with a 0.00 ERA and allowing no inherited runners to score is approaching zero. But this group does have a chance to be among the best in the league, maybe at the top.

A lot of people thought it was an overpay when the Dodgers signed League to a three-year, $22.5 million deal last October. But the Dodgers had seen the impact he could have on their bullpen when he had a 0.40 ERA in his final 21 appearances of last season, allowing just eight hits in 22 1/3 innings.

Whether he closes or Kenley Jansen closes seems fairly immaterial. Together, they give the Dodgers two hard throwers, two brutally difficult pitchers to hit, in the final two innings. Ronald Belisario is no picnic either. The league hit .187 against him last year.

Rodriguez is pitching well enough to hold onto a roster spot. When the Dodgers traded Aaron Harang to acquire catcher Ramon Hernandez Saturday, Rodriguez’s success undoubtedly was part of the impetus. Had they not moved Harang, Rodriguez likely would have been sent down when the Dodgers activate Chad Billingsley Wednesday.

The only Dodgers reliever who has yet to pitch is Chris Capuano. Ted Lilly’s return from the disabled list will create another challenge as the team tries to sort out its roster. The way things are going right now, they’d be crazy to tamper with success.