In beer, err, baseball town USA the Dodgers pulled off a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. With the 5-1 victory over the RedBirds, the Dodgers will now see time in the NLCS for the second consecutive season. Los Angeles, led by Joe Torre, hopes to see different results in the rematch.
Torre has managed his teams into an LCS in 9 of his last 14 seasons. The Dodgers were led by pitcher Vicente Padilla. He managed a first inning well before settling in and dominating the Cardinals most of the way. Padilla has been another veteran bright light shining in the postseason for Los Angeles. In now his 11th season in the bigs, this was his first postseason start and he showed up ready to play. In seven innings Padilla went scoreless allowing only four hits. Vicente struck out four and walked one before turning the ball over to the bullpen. That back end of the Dodgers pitching staff has definitely played a vital role in the playoffs so far. In Thursdays win over the Cards, George Sherill came in and pitched two outs before Torre brought in closer Jonathan Broxton to face Albert Pujols for the third time. Pujols got the better of Broxton this time, singling to right field and scoring Julio Lugo. It was the likely NL MVP's only RBI and just third hit of the series. The next batter faced by Broxton was Matt Holliday who popped up, and then Broxton closed out the cards in the ninth. Broxtons' 101 MPH fastball to get Rick Ankiel swinging to end the game was just the exclamation point to the story the bullpen has been telling. In 9 2/3 innings pitched, the Dodgers 'pen allowed only two runs and was credited with two victories (Weaver, Sherrill) in the series sweep.
All season long the Dodgers have been led by Andre Ethier and his clutch performances. In the closeout game at New Busch Stadium, Andre struck a bit early. In the first inning with two out, Manny doubled to score Matt Kemp. Two innings later in a similar two out situation, Ethier blasted one 402 ft. to right field. Furcal scored first on the two-run shot that gave the Dodgers a quick 3-0 lead, and quieted the shocked crowd. In two previous series, the Dodgers have never beat the Cardinals. They lost in both the 1985 NLCS and the more recent 2004 NLDS. It marked only the third time the Cardinals have been swept in postseason play. The Dodgers got a solid performance from both Furcal and Ethier in the sweep. Both went 6-12, as Manny lagged behind a little going 4 for 13 on the series. Ramirez did seem to heat up in the final game, going 3-5 with 2 RBIs. When asked about his series performance Rafael Furcal replied,
"All year it was a struggle. I know I'm not that kind of player. I knew if I could get on base two times, we could win every game. That team, they beat us five of seven. They throw two Cy Young pitchers at us. But people see we're a different team in the playoffs."
Los Angeles will now go home and await the winner of the Phillies-Rockies series. Last year the Dodgers lost to the Phillies in the NLCS, as they advanced to win the World Series.
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