I Had Forgotten What It's Like To Lose

I suppose it was bound to happen. We were bound to lose three games in a row this season. How could a team go a whole season without losing three games in a row? Every team has it's slumps.

But man, are we slumping.

One win in our last six games, with the one win coming on a fluke-y walk-off pop fly single. Which is odd because it seems when you're down, nothing seems to go your way.

So what happened? How did it get here? Let's take a look at our last three games:

• Monday, July 27th - Cardinals 6, Dodgers 1 - Despite collecting the same amount of hits as the Cardinals (11), the Dodgers manage to score five less runs. Collectively, the Dodgers left 20 runners on base. What was the other problem? The bullpen. 2.0 innings, 4 runs (though only 2 earned).

• Tuesday, July 28th - Cardinals 10, Dodgers 0 - This time, the Dodgers actually managed to out hit the Cardinals (9-8). Another 17 runners left on base. And the pitching. Oh, the pitching. Chad Billingsley - 6 earned runs. Bullpen - 4 earned runs. For the second night in a row, Brent Leach comes in and is unable to record a single out. When Mark Loretta is the only guy out of the bullpen to not surrender a run, things aren't looking good.

• Wednesday, July 29th - Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2 - For the third time in a row, the Dodgers get as many, or more hits than the Cardinals (13-11). And this time, they were able to break their own record. 24 runners left on base. And the bullpen? Two blown leads, and later in the 15th, a blown game.

So, the question again: What happened?

Our bullpen is melting down. That's a start.

And our timely hitting, which has been a vital part of our offense this season, has been virtually non-existent. 61 runners left on base in three games. 3 runs to show for it. The Cardinals had more timely hitting and scored more runs in the 6th inning of game two against Billingsley than the Dodgers have gotten the whole series.

Speaking of. As much as I love the guy, a big problem for us right now is Chad Billingsley. He's been pretty horrendous in July. A 7.52 ERA in five starts. 29 hits, 22 earned runs in 26.2 innings pitched. So... Should we ship him out of town? Will he melt down like this in the playoffs? NO!, and who knows? Look, Billingsley, like our team, is slumping. Like I said before, it happens. That doesn't mean that Billingsley won't turn it around at any point and be the pitcher we know he is. And as for the playoffs... there are never any guarantees. But with Billingsley, I like him. I trust him. And I'll take my chances.

Either way, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now though, the great thing about baseball is that we don't have to wait a week to try again. Today's a new day, a new game, another shot at ending our losing streak.

I had forgotten what it's like to lose like this, but now that I remember, I'm ready for it to end.