" Joe Torre visited the mound with two outs and a man on second in the seventh inning to talk to Chad Billingsley about his options.

Melky Cabrera was coming up. Eric Hinske was in the on-deck circle, ready to pinch-hit.

Pitch to Cabrera? Or walk Cabrera and face Hinske?

"He was so sure of what he wanted to do," Torre said of Billingsley. "I could have gone either way, with walking him and pitching to Hinske. He had a look in his eye. He wanted to pitch to Melky."

So Torre let him.

Cabrera grounded out and the inning was over. The score was still tied.

The inning was the last pitched by Billingsley in the Dodgers' 4-3 come-from-ahead loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The former all-star had another magnificent night, holding the Braves to one run and five hits over seven innings. He struck out eight.

In the six starts Billingsley had made since he was pounded for seven runs in four innings in St. Louis on July 16, he has posted a 1.55 earned-run average.

As usual, he was a man of few words Monday, downplaying the change in his form over the last two months.

"It's the same thing," he said.

Billingsley acknowledged the defeat was a tough one to take.

"Definitely tough to swallow," he said. "We have to come back tomorrow.""