ANOTHER DODGER ROOKIE SHINES.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

SAN DIEGO 

They fret and debate and worry and second-guess, and ultimately roll the dice and hope.

Add the pluses, subtract the minuses, rationalize, legitimize, finally make a best guess, and decide the young pup on the farm is ready for the bright lights.

``You never know when the right time is,'' said Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti. ``You can always find a reason to say, `No, he's not ready.'

``We've decided with the way we've been inconsistent once in a while through the rotation, that it was time to give him an opportunity.''

``Him'' would be right-hander Chad Billingsley, the Sirius in the Dodgers' galaxy of bright young stars. A former No.1draft pick, twice their minor-league pitcher of the year, his future long decreed, awaiting only the right moment for a debut.

It came Thursday afternoon against the Padres, and though it would be incorrect to write ``finally'' given that Billingsley is only 21 years old, it was a moment eagerly, if nervously, awaited by the Dodgers brass.

Billingsley did nothing to disappoint, going 5 1/3 mostly sharp innings, allowing two runs on six hits, two walks and striking out three.

If it did not shout out the arrival of the next Johan Santana, or even the next Jered Weaver, it did not dissuade those who have marked Billingsley for future stardom.

``We've been patient and looked for the right opportunity to give him a chance up here, and I think now is the time,'' said Dodgers manager Grady Little. ``We're looking forward to seeing him pitch every five days.''

Billingsley is maybe 6-feet tall and a thick 244 pounds. The Defiance, Ohio native throws hard, hitting 95 to 96mph with his fastball Thursday, but was unafraid to drop in an impressive curveball regardless of the count. He mixed in an occasional slider, and even a couple of two-seam sinkers he'd just added to his repertoire twoweeks ago at Triple-A Las Vegas.

``I'll tell you what, he was very impressive,'' Little said. ``He's going to win a lot of games for the Dodgers.''

That's the ultimate hope, of course, and what makes Billingsley's debut slightly different from the impressive arrivals of rookies Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Willy Aybar, Andre Either and Jonathan Broxton.

While the others were players whose immediate call-ups were largely viewed as fill-ins for guys on the disabled list aned who are now making cases to stick, Billingsley is here because the Dodgers need him right now, need him to stake a claim to permanency.

The rotation is their one obvious weak link. Only Brad Penny and Derek Lowe are reliable starters. Aaron Sele has mostly pitched very well, but with his rebuilt shoulder and shaky past two seasons, fingers are still crossed with his each start.

Odalis Perez, Jae Seo and Brett Tomko have rotated between very good, to average, to plain awful. All have ERAs of 5.20 or higher. Only Tomko remains in the rotation.

Billingsley said he has been promised nothing, and told little more.

``They brought me up for a reason. I don't know what it is, if it's just to throw a couple starts, but I'm just going to pitch to the best of my ability, and who knows what'll happen after that?''

There are no certainties when calling up promising players, but the wealth of young talent has done nothing but encourage the Dodgers to give Billingsley his opportunity now.

After a 27-pitch first inning, he looked ready for the call.

``His composure was abnormal for a kid in his first day in the major leagues, especially out there on that mound,'' Grady said. ``He was well under control of himself and got good results.

``He has all the intangibles, and the tangibles, too. That's a good combination. This guy is what you call a package.''

Billingsley even continued the Dodgers' run of good-hitting rookies. The game was scoreless in the fourth when he looped a two-run single to right. He was 0 for 8 this season at Las Vegas.

``I never really thought about getting two RBIs on my first base hit,'' he said.

The Padres tied the score in the fifth. With runners at the corners and no outs, Aybar elected to come home on a sharp grounder rather than turn the double play. That ended up leading to a second San Diego run on ex-Dodger Dave Roberts' single.

With one out in the sixth, after Adrian Gonzalez singled, Little came and got Billingsley after he had thrown 98 pitches.

``I hated to take him out of there because he had been all of our offense so far,'' Little said.

It was only one start, and many a promising major-leaguer's beginning has found a different path. Yet a need is there, and Billingsley offered nothing but potential ready to be delivered.

``For one time out, he's cut from the same cloth of Ethier and Kemp and Broxton, Martin, Aybar,'' Colletti said.

Cool and calm, bright and promising. One more shining star whose time may have arrived.

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