LOS ANGELES -- By the time James Loney discovered what was wrong with his swing it was too late to help the Los Angeles Dodgers contend for a division title. Brian Moorman Bills Jersey . Still, the six-year veteran first baseman has been making up for lost time in the last four weeks. Loney had five hits with three RBIs helping lead the Dodgers to a 15-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. "Every time you face adversity, youve got to pick yourself up and do the best you can," Loney said. "Ive learned a lot this year about hitting, and Im trying to get pitches to hit. "I just think my timing mechanism has been better. The main thing is being ready to hit and recognizing the pitches better. I just feel more in control and my confidence is a lot better. During the course of the year, youre supposed to hit certain pitches in certain areas, and I wasnt doing that early on. At times maybe I was trying too hard and swinging too hard." Loney didnt get his average above .250 until June 12, when he had three hits including a home run at Colorado. Since Aug. 21, he is batting .356 with six homers and 24 RBIs and has raised his season average to .283. "Im happy for him," teammate Matt Kemp said. "He struggled at the beginning of the season, but we all knew he had this in him. Hes got a great swing. He might not hit as many home runs as everybody thinks he should hit, but hes definitely a guy that can hit for average and drive in 100 runs." Loney recorded his first five-hit game, and Jerry Sands and Juan Rivera each drove in four runs. Sands had a homer among his four hits, leading a 23-hit attack against Brad Lincoln (1-3) and seven relievers who combined to throw 218 pitches. Kemp had three hits, including his 34th homer, and drove in two runs to increase his career-high total to 113. The Dodgers run total tied a season high and equalled the most the Pirates have allowed. "We were challenged dramatically over the weekend. They shut our offence down and they beat us up with the bats," said manager Clint Hurdle, whose staff hasnt had a 1-2-3 inning in the last two games. "Were not playing well, and were definitely not pitching. Were not getting the length we need out of our starters, which has compounded some things." After consecutive games in which starters Jeff Locke and James McDonald each pitched three innings and allowed a combined total of eight runs, Lincoln lasted only 1 1-3 innings and was charged with six runs on eight hits -- three of which were sharp singles through the box. "It was a hit parade today," Kemp said. "It was just one of those days where everybody was seeing the ball, getting good pitches to hit and putting good wood on it." Chad Billingsley (11-10) allowed a run and four hits over five innings and struck out five. The right-hander, pitching his final home game in the first year of a four-year contract that will pay him more than $41 million, was staked to an 11-0 lead through the first three innings and breezed to his first victory in eight starts since beating Arizona 7-4 on Aug. 5. "Ive been struggling with my arm slot and my mechanics a lot this year and havent been able to find a good rhythm," Billingsley said. "I had better off-speed stuff today, so Im just going to keep going with it." Lincoln, a 26-year-old left-hander, making his seventh start for the Pirates this season, gave up hits to five of his first seven batters and threw 33 pitches in the first as the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead. Dee Gordon led off with a triple and scored on Jamey Carrolls groundout. Kemp homered to centre field on the first pitch, and Sands capped the rally with an RBI single. The Dodgers increased the margin to 9-0 in the second. Kemp hit a two-out RBI single. Rivera chased Lincoln with another single, and Loney greeted Aaron Thompson with a drive just beyond the reach of centre-fielder Andrew McCutchen, scoring Kemp and Rivera. Two batters later, Sands hit a first-pitch homer into the left-field pavilion. Rivera made it 11-0 in the third with a two-run single against Chris Leroux, one of 18 pitchers the Pirates are carrying on their expanded roster. Two more runs scored on a routine flyball by Rivera that fell for a double between centre-fielder Alex Presley and right-fielder Xavier Paul, each of whom thought the other was going to catch it. The Pirates run came on Pauls RBI double in the fifth. The crowd of 37,802 on Fan Appreciation Day increased the Dodgers season total to 2,832,719 with three home dates left. They would have to sell out all three to reach 3 million with just 719 to spare. The last time the club failed to reach that figure in a non-strike season was 1982. Dodger Stadium has a seating capacity of 56,000, the largest in the majors. NOTES: The Dodgers had a season-high 25 hits in Billingsleys 15-0 win at Minnesota on June 27. ... Sunday marked the 34th anniversary of Hurdles first big league game, when he hit a two-run homer against Glenn Abbott in his second at-bat to help the Royals beat Seattle 8-5 at Kansas City. ... Clayton Kershaw opens the Dodgers three-game series against San Francisco on Tuesday night at Chavez Ravine, looking for his 20th victory -- and fourth this season against Tim Lincecum. Kershaw will attempt to become the first Dodgers pitcher to go 5-0 against the Giants in the same year since LHP Vic Lombardi did it in 1946. Thad Lewis Womens Jersey . A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate). Keith Rivers Bills Jersey . Earlier Monday, Indy re-signed linebacker Justin Hickman and promoted quality control assistant Brad White to assistant linebackers coach. Moala was the Colts second-round pick in 2009 and matched a career high with 26 tackles last season. HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011. He will, however, concede that at age 35 hes having a pretty good season. Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away," he said, breaking into a huge smile. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isnt surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season. "Hes the great Dirk Nowitzki," Carlisle said. "Hes one of the great players in the history of the game." Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more. "The driving the ball is whats missing a little now," he said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I dont think Im in 11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better." Nowitzkis performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history. Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97. Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down. "We tried a bunch of different stuff," McHale said. "We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work." Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle. Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 rrun powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82. Eric Wood Bills Jersey. Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston. Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists. With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houstons seven 3-pointers. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half," Howard said. "They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat." A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter. The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk. Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw. The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime. NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games. ' ' '
