Where Have You Gone Hong-Chih Kuo?

Our eighth inning bullpen collapses turn their frustrated eyes to you.

Unlike myself, I hope most of you were able to spend Mother's Day with your Mom thus avoiding the 5 hour letdown that was today's Dodger game. With my own Mom being hours away I was saddled with the unfortunate company of Guillermo Mota...

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, however, the ride ended on a low when Guillermo Mota allowed a two-run single to Randy Winn in the 13th inning of the Dodgers' 7-5 loss in front of 37,529 at the stadium.

"We battled," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "This game is all about personality and this ballclub wants to win badly. But unfortunately you have to fight your way back from disappointment."

The disappointment came because the Dodgers made a comeback in the 12th to tie the game at 5 with a solo home run by Blake off Giants closer Brian Wilson after Mota allowed a run in the top of the inning.

It was a potentially momentum-changing home run, but the Dodgers weren't able to capitalize and lost the game the next inning.

"The home run was nice because it kept the game alive, but then we lost a tough one," Blake said.

Mota was the culprit in both innings, and it started in the 12th when he allowed Rich Aurilia's sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to give the Giants a one-run lead.

In the 13th, Mota loaded the bases again with one out after Rafael Furcal couldn't get the ball out of his glove on a hit by Steve Holm, and Winn followed with a two-run single down the left-field line for two runs.

The lesson as always...Mom > Guillermo Mota
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Not really related to the bullpen but is there anyone hurting more from the absence of Manny Ramirez than Andre Ethier? Since the Manny Incident, Ethier is 2 for 19 with zero RBI's while stranding 10 men on the base paths.