Second Season

Los Angeles, CA

On Wednesday night the Los Angeles Dodgers will host the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of the 2009 National League Division Series. The Dodgers have a formidable foe in St. Louis that can appear downright scary at times. The Cards have arguably the two best pitchers in the Nation League with Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. The two pitchers whom combined for 36 wins, are likely the best 1-2 staff in all of the majors heading into the post-season.

"The way you beat them is to get their starting pitcher out of the game as soon as possible, whether it's Carpenter or Wainwright, that's 67% of the Cy Young voting. But they are human. They didn't go undefeated this year," Wolf said of the Cards fantastic pitching duo.

With that being said, it was the Dodgers jumbled mix of a rotation (12 different starters) that lead the NL in both Overall ERA and Relief Era, while going second in Starter ERA. The Redbirds rested right behind, falling fourth place in each category. Los Angeles will now call upon left-hander Randy Wolf in game 1 of the series, which begins at 6:37 p.m. at Chavez Ravine. It will be Wolf's first career post-season start, in arguably the best of his 11 year service. Wolf enjoyed career highs in both starts (34) and innings pitched (214 1/3) while posting a 3.23 ERA and a .227 opponent batting average. He was also the teams most consistent pitcher, even though he posted a mild 11-7 record. He had 16 total no-decisions, and at one point went 17 straight games in which he lasted through at least six innings. The Dodgers rode his back for an impressive 22-12 record when he started.

On the offensive side of the ball, neither team is lacking with the Cards probably holding the advantage. St. Louis struts out stud 1b Albert Pujols, likely the league's MVP Award winner. Also after midseason acquisitions of both Mark DeRosa and the former Rockies power hitting Matt Holliday, the team is poised to swing their way through the playoffs.

Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier paced the Dodgers, as the team's first duo to hit 100+ RBIs since 2000 (Sheffield and Green). The Boys in Blue finished the year 1st in OBP (.346) and 4th in runs scored (780). Los Angeles likewise include in their line-up Manny Ramirez, who is on of baseball's most prolific playoff hitters, and keep Jim Thome on the bench with 564 career HR's. Once they reach base, expect the Dodgers to utilize their speed. LA was 3rd in the NL with 116 stolen bases, 64 of which came on the wheels of Juan Pierre, and the five-tooled outfielder, Kemp.

Anyway this thing turns out, we are guaranteed to see some great managing of rosters by two of the league's best. Dodgers skipper Joe Torre has reached the playoffs for his 14th straight season and has 4 World Series Titles to his name. His good friend, and mutually respected Tony LaRussa, has managed a World Series winning team in both league's and is a 3x Manager Of The Year.