This should be a picture of sad Billingsley, but I'd prefer to look at acrobatic Dee right now.

For the fourth time in five starts, Chad Billingsley allowed more than four earned runs, and the Dodgers were unable to avoid a sweep at the hands of Cincinnati. Jon Weisman over at DodgerThoughts (before the game was even over, no less!) summed up Billingsley’s troubles succinctly:

Chad Billingsley through the end of May: 75 1/3 innings, 71 strikeouts, 100 baserunners, 3.46 ERA.

Chad Billingsley in June, including today’s game: 13 2/3 innings, nine strikeouts, 43 baserunners, 11.19 ERA.

This is an issue that requires an in-depth look. Unfortunately, you’re not getting that today, because who really wants to think more about this team right now? I can’t be the only one looking forward to a 48-hour break from Dodger baseball, right?

As usual, any semblance of offense came from the top half, as Dee Gordon, Jamey Carroll, Andre Ethier, and Matt Kemp combined for six of the eight Dodger hits, with another – also, seemingly, as usual – coming from the pitcher, Billingsley. (Aaron Miles collected the final hit as a pinch-hitter in the 8th.)

At 31-39 after the sweep, the Dodgers are eight games under .500 and 8.5 games out of first, pending San Francisco’s date with Arizona tonight. As I noted last night, by losing today they’re further under .500 than they’ve been since July 26, 2006. How long ago was that? The infield that day was Olmedo Saenz (1B), Willy Aybar (2B), Rafael Furcal (SS), and Cesar Izturis (3B). That’s right – it was so long ago that Rafael Furcal was actually playing in games. It should, of course, be noted that the 2006 club did rebound to make the playoffs.