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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dodgers, Cards in NLDS opener

Wolf doesn’t like the title ‘ace,’ but serves as one for Los Angeles

Associated Press

Randy Wolf has seen a lot in his 11-year career, just never the playoffs. He’s finally getting a chance in the stadium where he watched the Los Angeles Dodgers as a kid.

The 33-year-old left-hander proved to be the most consistent starter for the repeat National League West champions, although he quickly rejects the label of staff ace.

“I almost despise that word,” Wolf said Tuesday. “A guy like Chris Carpenter, you could consider him an ace. He’s done it year in, year out. He’s the guy who is almost a perennial top-five Cy Young voting guy.”

Carpenter will start for the N.L. Central champion St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 tonight against Wolf in the best-of-5 division series.

The 2005 Cy Young winner is a strong contender again this season, boasting a 17-4 record and a N.L.-best 2.24 earned-run average.

Wolf proved durable this season, setting career highs with 34 starts and 2141/3 innings just two years after lasting half a season for the Dodgers because of an injury.

He ended the regular season strongly, going 6-1 in his final nine starts with a 2.51 ERA. Overall, he was 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA that was second on the staff to Clayton Kershaw’s 2.79.

Kershaw will start Game 2 on Thursday, while Adam Wainwright goes for the Cardinals.

•Phillies-Rockies: All those big boppers and two hitter-friendly ballparks sure make the Philadelphia-Colorado series look like a slugfest.

Not so fast.

When Colorado swept Philadelphia in the 2007 N.L. division series, the teams combined for only 24 runs in three games. Now, each club boasts stronger pitching.

The Phillies have two former Cy Young Award winners and last year’s World Series and NLCS MVP on their staff. The Rockies were the only team in the majors to have all five starters reach double-digit wins.

The defending World Series-champion Phillies are sending reigning A.L. Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee (14-13, 3.22 ERA with Indians and Phillies) to the mound for Game 1 today. Ubaldo Jimenez (15-12, 3.47) gets the start for Colorado.

Both pitchers are quite aware the ball travels well at Citizens Bank Park, and they’re facing plenty of hitters who can drive them out.

Lee has faced the Rockies only once in his career, beating them 3-1 on Aug. 6. He allowed one run and six hits, striking out nine in seven innings.

Jimenez held the Phillies to one run in 6 1/3 innings in the clincher of the ’07 series, but is 0-1 with an 8.10 ERA in two regular-season starts against them.

American League

The New York Yankees will start their A.L. division series today against the Minnesota Twins, who beat the Detroit Tigers 6-5 in 12 innings in Minneapolis on Tuesday in a one-game playoff to decide the Central Division.

The Yankees could have waited until one hour after the tiebreaker game concluded to pick when they wanted to begin.

The Yankees, holding home-field advantage throughout the postseason, had the choice of starting either today or Thursday at 3:07 p.m. PDT. They picked to get going right away at Yankee Stadium.

The decision to begin today means the Yankees will get a day off between Games 1 and 2.

The other A.L. division series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels will now start Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif., a development that surprised neither team. New York was expected to choose the earlier schedule, which will force the Twins to make a quick turnaround from Tuesday’s tiebreaker game.

Boston and Los Angeles both are waiting to put the finishing touches on their final playoff rosters while evaluating players with minor injuries during Tuesday’s workouts, including Red Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen and Angels reliever Jason Bulger.

The clubs will play back-to-back night games on Thursday and Friday before the series shifts to Fenway Park in Boston.