Philadelphia

My rotation:

Lowe
Bills
Kuroda
Lowe (3 days rest)
Bills (full rest due to off day)
Kershaw
Lowe (full rest)

One short rest game, and I would not pitch Kuroda on the road under any circumstances.

There is no choice, but what worries me most is Lowe being forced to pitch Thursday on 7 days rest. He's generally less effective following long layoffs. That's the opposite of Kuroda, who pitches best when he has some extra rest.

The extra rest should help the bullpen, especially Cory Wade, who worked in all three games against the Cubs. Would be nice to get Kuo back, although he's a risk not only because of his health problems, but also because he might have accumulated some rust, and could have control problems. Also, Broxton's effectiveness on Saturday was the direct result of his regaining the bite on his slider. Hope he doesn't lose it, including his command in the strike zone, following a week off.

Furcal is the key. He is the only difference between the teams that played in August. Absolutely move Andre in front of Manny. He hit a ton there and will again.

Kuroda twice said how much he loved the fans cheering and how emotional he gets when he hears it. On the road without the fans he just isn't the same guy. Will somebody tell him to tip his hat to the cheers? I bet his culture prevents it but he is a real warrior on the mound.

I have been a Blue fan for 50 of my 59 years after seeing them at Ebets Field in 1958 and this year may be on a par with the Koufax/Drysdale and Hershiser years. Time will tell. Do Dodgers!

Interesting take on a battle between the Dodger's rotation and bullpen against the Phillies sluggers. But, the Phillies starters and bullpen are pretty darn good. Milwaukee batted under the Mendoza line for the series and Brad Lidge is the best closer in the NL. The Phils also shut Milwaukee down when it came to RISP. The blog also didn't mention that the Dodgers can hit some homers too. I honestly believe that the two rotations are evenly matched. The Phillies long relief is below average but their middle relief is very good. It's gonna be a great series.

Dbrim - I agree, not only would I not play Kuroda on the road, but I would take it a step further and not let him on the road at all. Have you SEEN the guy drive!???

I love the Kam Brothers overconfidence. Hope the Dodgers take that onto the field. In truth, your bullpen isn't better than the Phils. We had no problem with Broxton as he has an 8.1 ERA against the Phils and Saito has just been banished. The only chance your bullpen has is if Kuo can pitch. Beimel can do a little damage against our lefty strength of Utley and Howard but not that much. If not for some Garciaparra heroics and a bullpen implosion we would have been 6-2 against the Dodgers this year. This ain't the shy cubs you're facing now. CBP will be in a frenzy come Thursday night. And your best pitcher against us is Kuroda. The others we've held our own against. Your strength works to our advantage. PHILS IN 6.

Baseball has its head so squarely up its ass. It's quite likely that all four Division Series will be over by the end of the day today, and yet the LCS won't start until Thursday and Friday respectively. that means two and possibly four teams sitting around and getting stale for three days.

I'm sure League officials probably think that builds suspense, but what it builds is sloppy baseball. Remember the Tigers in 2006? They had a week off, then came back and couldn't throw the ball to first base.

Hey baseball: Stop with the set dates for the LCS and World Series and learn to schedule on the fly, the way basketball and hockey do. If the ALDS ends today, you could move the LCS up a day and start the World Series in somewhat warmer weather.

Also, the extra off day in the LCS just means teams sit around longer and rewards teams with thinner pitching staffs.

DBrim:

I like your rotation idea, especially Kershaw as the fourth starter, given Philly's dominantly left-handed lineup. I believe Maddux will be on notice during the Kershaw game if the kid falters. And holding him until game 6 means you can use him and Maddux early in the series as relievers.

However, I'm not sure Torre will go with Lowe on short rest if he's up 2-1. In that case, I think he'll go with Kershaw at home in game four, followed by Lowe in Game 5 and Bills for Game 6. If it gets to a Game 7, Kuroda will start and all hands will be on deck.

Wow Wow, nice job by the blue and can you believe that Jon Broxton great close. Now we get Philly should be a barn burner, difference is Furcal and Joe. Sad part is that Bill (pain in the pants) Plaschke has jumped on the banwagon, maybe he will just go away.

Wow Wow, nice job by the blue and can you believe that Jon Broxton great close. Now we get Philly should be a barn burner, difference is Furcal and Joe. Sad part is that Bill (pain in the pants) Plaschke has jumped on the banwagon, maybe he will just go away.

SaMo-

It's all about TV. By setting the schedule months in advance, it gives networks the opportunity to set their schedules and do a lot of advance work with predictability. In sports today, TV coverage trumps. The NBA might be a little more flexible as to when series start, but are awful about spacing out games, making some series last seemingly forever.

It's just the world we live in.

BK

Of course: television. Ruiner of all things holy, beast that requires constant feeding, dictator of 8:35 pm World Series starts so that West Coasters miss the beginning and East Coasters miss the end of games, lengthener of nine-inning contests into 4-hour affairs.

Thank goodness for Tivo.

Baseball is slow enough as it is, but television makes it damn near impossible to watch. Makes you long for the days of radio. Actually, with national mediat handling the playoffs, I'll take Vinny or Jaime Jarrin over Miller and Morgan, Costas and Kubek, or that blowhard Steve Phillips any day.

Oh My! What a sweep over the Cubs and now here come the Phils. I love me some Dodger's October Baseball!

And I agree with what someone said earlier. Please switch Ethier and Manny. Ethier was killing in the 3 hole. Now he appears to be trying too hard.

GEAUX BLUE!

SaMo and BK,

It didn't used to be this way, but now indeed, TV trumps everything. The problem is that those who benefit from the spread-out schedule are the same people who make the schedule in the first place. And I actually thought that both the NBA and NHL went to this type of thing first. Baseball just followed suit when they saw that it was more profitable.

Each game I am torn between TiVo'ing it to avoid 1000 Frank TV ads and watching it live so I can participate in the Live Blog here. It's a real dilemma.