National League Championship Series

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Many expected the St. Louis Cardinals in this series but the Dodgers swept aside the Redbirds fairly convincingly. The defending World Series Champions were expected to beat the Colorado Rockies and needed 4 games to advance to the NLCS.

Neither manager has announced a rotation yet, hence we can only make some educated guesses. I expect Joe Torre to go with the same rotation he had planned for the NLDS, meaning lefties Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw would start in Game 1 and 2, Vicente Padilla in Game 3 and Chad Billingsley in Game 4. Hiroki Kuroda, who did not play in the NLDS threw a simulated game on Tuesday and could be the starter for Game 3 and a possible Game 7 if everything is working out fine. Jon Garland is another option but he has not played in the NLDS either.

I think Joe Torre wants Kuroda in the rotation, so I am guessing that the Japanese and Vicente Padilla will be the other 2 starters in the rotation of the Dodgers.

Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels will definitely be in the rotation of the Phillies but we can start guessing the remaining two spots. Cliff Lee had to pitch on Monday night, which makes him unlikely to appear in the first two games. 3 other pitchers are in the race for the two remaining spots in the rotation. J.A Happ didn’t have his best stuff at Coors Field but he seems to remain in the rotation as Charlie Manuel appears to prefer Joe Blanton in the bullpen. That would leave Pedro Martinez as fourth starter and he could get the ball in Game 2.

I favour the rotation of the Dodgers slightly but let’s not forget that the Phillies did some damage to Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw in the regular season. Cole Hamels is the key player in this equation. The Phillies will have a slight edge in pitching if he can pitch remotely like he did in 2008.

Both bullpens got the job done in their respective Divisional Series. The Phillies had an ERA of 3.09 and the Dodgers boast a 1.86 ERA. Most importantly for the Phillies, Brad Lidge converted all of his save opportunities and has yet to give up a run in this postseason.

The Philles looked much better than they were for most of the regular season but I still prefer the Dodgers’ one-two punch with George Sherrill and Jonathan Broxton. Advantage LA but it might not be as big if Brad Lidge can keep it up.

The highly talented lineup of the Phillies was hitting very well against Colorado and had a batting average of .312. It should be pointed out that their struggles against left-handed pitchers continued as they batted a weak .100. This might not be that much of a problem against the Dodgers though, as they pounded Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw in the regular season.

The Dodgers were batting .276 in their 3 games against the Cardinals but only managed an average of .167 against southpaws. This could be bad news for the Dodgers as they have to face Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and possibly J.A. Happ. Batting against LHP isn’t necessarily a weakness of the Blues though.  

Right now the Phillies have a slight advantage over the Dodgers regarding offense.