Eighty-one games down, 81 to go, and the Dodgers can't help but feel stuck in the muddle.

Some of that comes from another wishy-washout performance by Chad Billingsley on Monday night, which most likely didn't do anything to the team's psyche one night after it put an end to a miserable losing streak.

Billingsley famously squandered the residual effects of an artistic five innings of shutout performance by yielding three runs and four hits in a fateful sixth inning, and the Dodgers were sitting on the wrong end of an 8-2 deficit against the Cincinnati Reds heading into the bottom of the ninth at Dodger Stadium.