The Philthies used three runs in the 9th inning to send the Rockies home in 4 games....The Dodgers made short work of St. Louis and swept...All of this leads to a rematch of last year's NLCS...
However, things are not quite the same as they were a year ago...A better bullpen as well as the emergence of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have the Dodgers, as well as myself, thinking that they will not exactly lose this series in 5 games the 2nd time around...
The Phils may have a potent offense (even one of the best in baseball), but the Dodgers offense is not only just as potent..but they are no longer riding the coattails of Manny Ramirez...Players like Kemp and Ethier have stepped their game off to take the pressure off of Man-Ram...Needless to say, Manny, as well as Rafael Furcal have more than done their part as each hit .500 in the NLDS...And think about this readers...if they can get through Carpenter and Wainright, you really think they're gonna be intimidated by Lee and Hamels?
As far as the pitching goes, the Dodgers have the Phillies beat in Starting and Relief pitching...Yes, the Phillies have Lee and they hope to have Hamels show up, but who else? Pedro has thrown only seven in the last month so how durable will he be? Blanton and Happ didn't exactly pitch all that well in the NLDS...The Dodgers' staff has come a long way since the days of relying on Chad Billingsley, who hasn't even been pitching this postseason. Guys like Padilla and Wolf have stepped up and assumed a level of play that will make every game this series tough for Philly...
In game 1, the Dodgers will be sending 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw to the mound...Kershaw seemed unfazed of the bright lights with a strong preformance in game 2...Now he must set the pace for the rest of the series against a team he has not beaten in his 2 starts against them this year (0-2 5.22 e.r.a)...
On the other side, Cole Hamels will look to regain his old form and lead his team to a 2nd straight National League Pennant...Although he has had a shaky season, he has pitched phenomenally against the Dodgers this year with a 0.36 e.r.a in 2 starts that includes a complete game shutout back in June....Did I mention he also won 2 games in the NLCS last year?
What this series basically will come own to is the bullpen...bottom line...the Phillies shaky bullpen is going up against the pen' with the best bullpen e.r.a in baseball...Even though Lidge had a couple saves in the NLDS, he has been far from "Lights Out" this year an he can't be depended upon...L.A has a slew of talent for every crucial situation imaginable...Kuo, Belisario and Sherrill are ALL capable of closing an they also have some guy named Johnathan Broxton....
Dodgers in 6 people...
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