FROM SAN FRANCISCO — His body language on the mound suggests he's clueless as what to try next, Chad Billingsley these days looking like the disappointing Brad Penny of old.
Maybe it's because the uniform doesn't fit quite right over the large body, or maybe it's the slumping shoulders or dropped head every time pitching coach Rick Honeycutt has to come out to console him.
Like Penny, when he was with the Dodgers, Billingsley doesn't hang around very long, four innings Sunday, 70 pitches and bring on Jeff Weaver. Yikes.
You've got some real explaining to do these days when you can't beat a punchless team like the Giants, San Francisco riding the arm of Penny to compound the embarrassment.
Penny has made three starts for the Giants, going eight innings, seven and seven more against the Dodgers to be 3-0.
Billingsley has won three games since June 14, none since Aug. 18 and hasn't lasted more than six innings since July 5.
And Billingsley is supposed to be at the top of the Dodgers' rotation when the playoffs begin, forgetting for a moment his 8.49 postseason ERA.
Now I don't know what batters see when standing in the box against him, but with notebook in hand in the clubhouse, he gives off the impression he just might start crying.
A few years back Tom Lasorda walked by Billingsley, who was just a young pup, and said he had a nickname for him.
"Pit Bull," Lasorda said, before being advised that might not be good for the kid given the way some pit bulls make headlines these days.
Who knew Billingsley would then act like a whipped puppy?
"Yeah, it's getting to [me]," he said in a halting voice, spending more time shaking his head than offering answers to what's gone wrong.
He's such a good kid too, as fine a young man as there might be in the Dodgers' clubhouse. But toughness seems to get someone further at this level, Billingsley beating himself up worse than the Giants, and they were pretty tough on him.
"I honestly don't know what to tell you," he said. "I left the ball up. Mid-thigh, belt high, not good. It's frustrating. I just got to figure it out."
Maybe so, but at this point in his young career, most folks expect more. "I expect it out of myself too," he said.
A little more spring in his step might help. It's almost as if he's expecting things to go wrong these days, walking around the clubhouse as if everyone is down on him, or will be the next time he takes the mound.
