Dodgers rely on young stars
It is easy to forget that there are two forms of improvement. In sports, the most obvious is external improvement, the addition of personnel to a roster in an attempt to bolster a previous weakness. And then there is the type of improvement Andre Ethier reinforced back in a June series at Dodger Stadium, when the 27-year-old right fielder went 6 for 16 with a walk-off two-run double on June 5 and a walk-off solo homer on June 6.
In last year’s National League Championship Series against the Phillies, Ethier went 5 for 22 with one extra-base hit, no runs batted in and six strikeouts. This year, coming off a stellar NLDS performance against the Cardinals in which he went 6 for 12 with five extra-base hits and two home runs, Ethier is the poster boy for the “new” Dodgers, a team that has fortified its bench and bullpen but has relied mostly on the internal improvement of its young stars.
“They’re a lot the same, but definitely they have more experience,” said Phillies right-hander Chan Ho Park, who pitched for the Dodgers last year before signing with the Phillies in the offseason. “They are the same guys, a lot of young talent, and now they have better experience.”
Ours is an impulse-buyer’s society, and in no sport is that more reflected than the national pastime, where each winter owners around the country open their checkbooks in an attempt at purchasing that glorious yet fleeting abstraction called success. Thus, when evaluating the year-to-year improvement of a team, we often turn to personnel additions – the free agents they have signed, the trades they have made.
When looking at the difference in the Phillies this time around, it is a good place to start. Left-hander Cliff Lee, the likely Game 3 starter, was acquired in a late-July trade with Cleveland. Right-hander Pedro Martinez, who could start Game 2, was signed as a free agent in mid-July.
Left fielder Pat Burrell is out. Free-agent signee Raul Ibanez is in.
The Phillies’ core group of players has already endured its maturation phase.
But when looking at the Dodgers team the Phillies will face starting today and comparing it to the one they vanquished last October, the biggest difference is the maturation of young stars like Ethier.
Despite their five-game victory over the Dodgers last postseason, the Phillies realized at the time that they were facing a team with vast potential. Joe Blanton, who allowed three runs in five innings against the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS, was impressed with the balance in their lineup, both in terms of left-handed and right-handed hitters and in experience.
“When you looked at their team last year, and you step back and look at it now, they had a bunch of young guys, and guys that they have locked up for a while,” Blanton said. “When you have a core group like that, it usually means that a team is going to be pretty competitive for those years.”
Kershaw vs. Hamels
Clayton Kershaw will start for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS today against the Phillies.
Manager Joe Torre says he went with the 21-year-old left-hander because he came up big in the Dodgers’ division-clinching win against Colorado on Oct. 3.
Kershaw pitched six scoreless innings in that game, striking out his first five batters and retiring his first 11 in a row.
The defending World Series champion Phillies will start left-hander Cole Hamels.
Angels choose Lackey
John Lackey will start Friday night’s Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees, getting the nod from manager Mike Scioscia before the Angels traveled to New York on Wednesday.
Lackey pitched 71/3 innings to lead Los Angeles to a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the division series. The right-hander is 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 12 career postseason games, 10 starts.