Knuckle Curve » chad billingsley

Chad Billingsley Injury Update – Broken Leg

Stephen Kersey — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 05:09:40 +0000

Chad Billingsley, a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, sustained a broken leg after falling on ice. Billingsley was at his home in Reading, Pennsylvania when he got injured.

The broken bone, which was specifically the fibula in his left leg, required surgery, however the good news is that Billingsley should be ready to pitch at the beginning of spring training.

In 2008, he had the best season of his young career. The 24-year-old right-hander was 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA. Billingsley also had 201 strikeouts in 200.1 innings pitched.

It’s been a rough stretch for Billingsley on and off the field lately. Aside from his broken leg, Billingsley had two sub par starts against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. He failed to get out of the second inning both times and gave up a total of ten earned runs in five innings.

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Philadelphia Phillies Headed to 2008 World Series

Stephen Kersey — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:07:19 +0000

The Philadelphia Phillies, a team that always had the talent but hadn’t put it together in the postseason, are headed to the 2008 World Series. With a 5-1 victory on Wednesday night over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies needed only five games to win the NLCS.

Jimmy Rollins got the Phillies off to a fast start when he hit a lead off homer. Ryan Howard also had a big night at the plate, as he went 3-4 with a run and an RBI. The Dodgers got their lone run on a Manny Ramirez solo shot in the sixth.

Arguably the star of the game was Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels. In seven innings, Hamels gave up only one run on five hits while striking out five. Chad Billingsley wasn’t quite as effective for the Dodgers, giving up three earned runs in less than four innings pitched.

In the 2008 world series, the Phillies will take on the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox. The Rays currently lead that series 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Thursday.

Here is a video of Cole Hamels talking about how the Phillies will prepare for the World Series:

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Chicago Cubs Lose First Playoff Game

Stephen Kersey — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:46:56 +0000

The 100 year curse looks to be alive and breathing. The Chicago Cubs lost their first playoff game in 2008 by a final score of 7-2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

At first, things looked fine for Chicago. They got up 2-0 by scoring two in the bottom of the second inning. But then James Looney of the Dodgers hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning to put Los Angeles up for good.

Not surprisingly, Manny Ramirez shined for the Dodgers. He was 2-4 with a walk, two runs, an RBI and a homer run. Derek Lowe pitched a fine six innings, giving up two earned runs while striking out six.

For the Cubs, things weren’t as rosy. Ryan Dempster struggled through 4.2 innings that saw him walk seven batters and give up four earned runs. Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto combined to go 0-12.

Chicago still has a chance to put the curse to bed but Game 2 has now turned out to be a must win game. Taking the hill for the Cubs will be ace Carlos Zambrano and he will take on Chad Billingsley of the Dodgers.

Game 2 will be Thursday at 9:30 PM CST.

Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre have to like the Dodgers’ Game 1 success.

Photo: Newscom

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Video – The Angels No Hitter That Wasn’t

Stephen Kersey — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:12:04 +0000

You won’t see many games like the one we saw on Saturday. The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t get a hit against the Los Angeles Angels. However, the Dodgers won the game. Since the Dodgers won, the Angels don’t get credited for the no-hitter.

The Angels pitchers were Jared Weaver and Jose Arredondo. The Angels had two errors on the day, which combined to let the Dodgers score a run on a sacrifice fly. Weaver was taken out of the game after six innings of no-hit ball. Arredondo threw two more innings of no-hit ball, however it wasn’t enough.

The Dodgers allowed five hits to the Angels but kept the Angels off the scoreboard. Chad Billingsley got the win for the Dodgers, who improve to 38-42. The Angels lose what on paper looked to be an unloseable game to fall to 48-33.

Here is a video of the no-hitter thrown by the Los Angeles Angels:

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