(Sports Network) - In danger of losing a fourth straight game, the Los Angeles
Dodgers are in need of a spark. That could come from work-horse Chad
Billingsley, who will pitch on three days' rest for the first time in his
career this afternoon in the continuation of a three-game series versus the
San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.

With Clayton Kershaw serving a five-game suspension for intentionally hitting
San Francisco's Aaron Rowand in a game last week, the Dodgers are in need of a
starter for this contest and will go with Billingsley on short rest.

Billingsley will take the hill after throwing six shutout innings in a 2-0
win over the Padres on Tuesday. The right-hander threw 84 pitches six days
after firing a five-hit shutout over the Giants.

"There's always a little concern because we don't do [short rest] much," LA
pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said on his team's website. "I think we only did
it with Derek Lowe before. You never really know. But the way he's throwing
and his last outing, we're using his judgment."

Billingsley, who turned 26 on Thursday, is 9-5 with a 4.00 earned run average
this year and his win over the Giants last week improved him to 5-2 with a
3.22 ERA in his career against them. Both shutouts thrown by Billingsley in
his career have come versus San Francisco.

He'll try to right the ship for the Dodgers, who are just 5-10 since the All-
Star break after losing last night's opener to the Giants, 6-5. With San
Francisco All-Star closer Brian Wilson unavailable due to a back ailment, the
Dodgers scored three times in the ninth inning to get within one, but the
rally fell short.

Scott Podsednik tripled in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the frame,
while Matt Kemp's two-out single to center scored Rafael Furcal. However,
Chris Ray got Casey Blake to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.

"The last inning we're four down and it started from the first swing of the
bat," said LA manager Joe Torre on his team's website. "Nobody threw their
hands up. At the end we had the tying run at third, the possible winning run
at first and an RBI guy at the plate."

Furcal went 3-for-3 with a homer run, two walks and a double for the Dodgers,
who remained seven games behind first-place San Diego in the National League
West, while the Giants moved within 2 1/2 games of the top spot by winning for
the seventh time in nine games.

Aubrey Huff paced San Francisco's offense with three hits, a home run and
three RBI, while Ray's save preserved the win for Tim Lincecum, who gave up
two early runs over seven innings while striking out nine.

The Giants will try to make it two victories in a row tonight behind Barry
Zito, but he has just one win over his last eight starts and will try to
avoid a third straight losing start today.

The left-hander yielded two runs over 7 1/3 innings of a tough-luck loss to
the Dodgers and Billingsley on July 21, then gave up three runs on eight hits
over 6 1/3 frames of a 4-3 defeat to the Marlins on Monday.

Zito, 32, is now 8-6 with a 3.49 ERA this year and his career record versus
the Dodgers slipped to an even 6-6 with a 4.01 ERA. He is, however, 6-2 with a
2.65 ERA in 11 home starts this season.

Los Angeles has won six of 10 from the Giants this season.