The Dodgers dropped game one of the Freeway series last night which puts them at 1-3 this season against the Orange County Angels of Anaheim. As I always try to do, I definitely, 100% found some positives from last nights game that I want to share with you before previewing tonight’s game, along with some negatives as well.

Positives: The offense awoke from the Oakland induced Coma that we seemed to be in as of late. They finally started showing some signs of life, and a little pop in the bats. In just two innings last night, we had six hits and scored five runs. In the past three games prior, we only managed to get nine hits, and two runs…combined. So it was definitely nice to see that energy from the dugout and the overall excitement that just wasn’t around in Oakland. Granted, I mentioned this on facebook as well, but you have to take into large consideration the stadium as well. The Dodgers have never played well there, and not only is it a pitcher’s ballpark with extremely long fences, but the stadium is NEVER even half way filled, and the energy that the fans bring for the Oakland Athletic’s just isn’t there. It’s very hard to get excited for a game like that, and it’s hard to perform when you’re not amped. It’s much easier to play in a place like Dodger or Angel Stadium in Anaheim. But anyways, back to last night — After the second inning, we were shut down runs wise, but the Dodgers were still making great at-bats. They ended up with 12 hits, including a 3 run homerun by Bobby Abreu, which was the first Dodgers homerun since Juan Rivera’s on June 12th. Yeah…10 days earlier.

“I didn’t think nothing about [revenge],” Abreu said. “I was just doing the best I can do to help my team win.”

A.J. Ellis also had a great at bat, where he battled off Dan Haren’s best stuff and worked an 11 pitch, full count at-bat that ended up with Ellis getting a single, and you could phyiscally see that it affected Haren. Mattingly also commented that he was overall pleased with the team’s performance last night, especially after a three game sweep in Oakland.

“After today, it doesn’t really concern me,” he said. “I was OK with the way we played today. The energy was good. At the end of the day, we got beat; we didn’t give it away. We weren’t able to stop them, but we had good at-bats the whole game.”

Negatives: Chad. Billingsley. There’s not much more to say about Chad that hasn’t been said already. To put it insanely mild, he is incredibly inconsistent and mediocre. AKA -not a number two starting pitcher. Last night, Bills had zero command and just flat out, didn’t execute at all. To me, he looked like he was throwing rather than pitching. He was over throwing, and his confidence was way down. The stat that concerned me the most though, was how he dealt with the bottom third of the Angels lineup. It’s hard enough to deal with players like Trout, Trumbo, Pujols, etc. But you can not make it harder on yourself by not focusing with the rest of the team. The Angels are solid from top to bottom, and last night the bottom third of their lineup scored 5 out of their total 8 runs. That’s practically unheard of.

“That’s why I guess you ask me all those questions every five days,” Mattingly said to reporters afterward. “I guess the mystery continues a little bit. It’s really a matter of, he’s got to be able to execute and get the ball where he wants, you have to stop the bleeding, slow yourself down and make quality pitches and manage those innings and not let it snowball.”

Billingsley was philosophical about his latest setback. “It’s just baseball,” he said. “I’ll continue to go out and pitch my game. It’s baseball. I’ve been playing a few years. I understand this game. Nothing’s easy. I’ll continue to go out and grind like every one of us on the team is doing.”

We’ll see which Billingsley comes to the mound his next appearance, but until then, let’s enjoy one of our most consistent starters in Chris Capuano, who has been great for the team all year.  He is taking the mound against Ervin Santana who has had a very rough season in 2012. Coming off from a 1 hit gem against the Diamondbacks, Santana is only 4-7 with a 5.16 ERA. To be honest with you, he’s been as predictable and consistent this year as Chad Billingsley has been for us. Yeah, I know. That’s mean, but also still true.

Looking at the matchup, on paper, it looks as if the Dodgers have a great shot of taking this one. Santana is coming off a great game, like I said, but for the most part has a tendency to get shelled, and Capuano is solid. However, in this weird quote-unquote “rivalry” anything could happen. Funny side note about that “rivalry.” As we all know…Dodgers fans hate, no that’s not quite it — loathe, no that’s not it either — well I can’t really find a word to describe the way we feel about the Giants, but we all know that is our number one and only true rivalry. That rivalry has been going since the Brooklyn and New York days, WELL before the Angels were even a thought of becoming a team. So to Angels fans, they think that this rivalry is way more serious than any Dodgers fans think it is. Which is funny, cause even Mike Scioscia, the Angel’s manager (also ex-Dodger catcher) doesn’t consider it a rivalry.

“I don’t really think there is [a rivalry], as far as anybody in our clubhouse or in their clubhouse, but I do know that the media and our fans obviously have more interest in the game because of the geographical rivalry that’s here, with two teams being so close,” Scioscia said. “For us, it’s another game. They’re a good team, and we have to do things well if we’re going to beat them.”

I just thought that was pretty funny, and just another point in my forever-ongoing argument that the Dodgers and Angels “rivalry” is nonexistent and dumb. The Giants will always have that special place in our hearts as the most hated team in the universe, and the Angels will never even come close. Sorry ’bout it, Angels fans.

Dodgers Lineup:

Dee Gordon, SS

Jerry Hairston, 2B

Andre Ethier, RF

Bobby Abreu, DH

Juan Rivera, LF

James Loney, 1B

Elian Herrera, CF

Juan Uribe, 3B

A.J. Ellis, C

Chris Capuano, Pitcher

Angels Lineup:

Mike Trout, CF

Torii Hunter, RF

Albert Pujols, 1B

Mark Trumbo, LF

Kendrys Morales, DH

Howie Kendrick, 2B

Maicer Izturis, 3B

Erik Aybar, SS

John Hester, C

Ervin Santana, Pitcher

The game is scheduled to start at 4:15 pm PT. Also, be sure to follow Dodgers Insider on Facebook and Twitter for live, in-game updates as well!!