Several years ago, I ran into former MLB player and (then) Angels broadcaster Rex Hudler as he was entering Angels Stadium during interleague play against the Dodgers. As Hud walked by, he made a comment that Ervin Santana was going to throw a shutout that day. Not only did Santana not throw a shutout, he got beat… and bad. The very next day, I again saw Hudler as he was entering the stadium and I said to him “Hey Hud, what happened to that shutout thing yesterday?” He nonchalantly replied “Ah, that’s the beauty of this game; every day is a fresh new day.” And while I initially thought that Hud’s comment was a little… well… dumb, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he was absolutely right. No matter what happened the day before and no matter what place a team is in, each new game starts with a score of 0-0. By the way, although not an Angels fan (not even a little), I have always liked Rex Hudler as a broadcaster and was quite disappointed when the Angels didn’t renew his (or Steve Physioc’s) contract in 2010.

Former Angels player and broadcaster Rex Hudler

Ever since my fun encounter with Rex Hudler, I have always tried to keep an open and optimistic mind before the start of every new Dodger game; after all, each new game starts with a score of 0-0, right? But for some reason, whenever Chad Billingsley is going for the Dodgers, that ‘fresh new day’ thing seems to abate me; and the sad part is, I have always felt this way when Billingsley starts… always.

Although I didn’t follow Chad during his minor league days, I knew that he was very highly touted when he arrived in the Bigs. And though his stuff was very good, I noticed a couple of things (for lack of a better word) about him that caused me some concern. The first was that the instant, and I mean the exact instant that he reaches 85 pitches, he is toast. He could have a no-hitter (or a low-hitter) going, but come pitch number 86, he seems to absolutely fall apart. The second concern is that Bills never pitches to contact but instead has always tried to nibble at the corners in an attempt to strike every batter out. The obvious problem with this, well two actually, is that his nibbling puts him at 85 pitches very early in the game (his career average innings per start is a less than 6.1, which is awful). The other obvious problem with this nibbling thing is that if he doesn’t get the call from the umpire (which he usually doesn’t), he is immediately behind in the count and ends up having to groove a fastball down the middle, many of which have landed in the bleachers or gone for extra base hits. But hands down the number one concern that I have about Chad Billingsley is that he always seems to have some lame excuse for why he pitched poorly rather than shouldering the responsibility for not doing well, as does Dodgers ace and reigning Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw. It is always something with Chad and his personal favorite is “I made my pitches” or “I pitched well tonight, I just made a mistake.” No, Chad, you did NOT pitch well tonight or make your pitches, and here is a life lesson – when you keep making the same mistake over and over again it isn’t a mistake, it is a flaw.

Chad Billingsley lays an 0-2 "meatball" right over the middle of the plate, which Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez launched ten rows deep into the Left Field Pavilion. "It was a mistake" Billingsley said later. Ya think? (Video capture courtesy of Prime Ticket)

In Thursday night’s fourth consecutive loss to the .500 Milwaukee Brewers, Aramis Ramirez absolutely ripped an 0-2 cut fastball ten rows deep into the Left Field Pavilion for a two-run home run (or “a deuce” as Rex Hudler would call it)  which proved to be the winning runs for the Brewers. What did Chad Billingsley have to say about this? You guessed it –  “I missed the spot trying to go cutter in on Aramis, and it just came back through the middle of the plate. It was a mistake.” Hey Chad – an 0-2 pitch to the Brewers second best hitter (especially with a runner on second) shouldn’t have been anywhere near the middle of the plate, it should have been in the dirt or above the letters – this is pitching 101, guy.

To his credit, Billingsley’s career numbers are actually pretty good… well sort of. In his 6+ years in the Bigs (all with the Dodgers) he is 72-56, which is actually very good, and his career ERA is 3.70, also very good. Where he gets into trouble is with his WHIP, which is 1.38. This means that he allows a lot of guys to get on base either by hit or walk and his  K/BB ratio is about 2 to 1 which is also not very good. To the casual stat observer Chad seems to be pretty efficient, but for those of us who have to squirm in our seats every time he is on the mound, his numbers are very misleading. He will frequently go two, three, sometimes even four innings pitching like Don Drysdale but then it happens… and it always happens – he has what has come to be known as his ‘meltdown’ inning. It usually starts with a walk (or two) followed by two, three or four consecutive hits and before you know it, his one-hit shutout is suddenly a four or five run inning and he’s gone.

For the past two seasons, Dodger manager Don Mattingly has said (several times) that Chad needs to step up his game and become the pitcher that he can be (sounds like an Army commercial, huh?), and while Billingsley has had moments of brilliance, he simply hasn’t stepped up his game, this in spite of recently signing a three-year/$35M contract extension that went into effect this season.

What it all boils down to is that unless Chad Billingsley actually does become the pitcher that he has been expected to be for over six years now, the new Dodger ownership may be forced to look for a replacement for Chad in the starting rotation; and at $35M, this will be a very expensive proposition.