Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
Maybe I just predicted the Dodgers would win last night because I am a Dodgers fan. Maybe I predicted they would win last night because Joe Torre is their manager and is a proven winner. You know what, it doesn't matter because the Dodgers finally wrapped up the NL West Division as they beat the Colorado Rockies 5-0 on Saturday night. That wasn't the only thing they clinched last night. They also clinched the best record in the National League to secure home field advantage throughout the NL portion of the playoffs. For Joe Torre this is the 14th straight year he's lead a team to the playoffs.
The man who should get most of the credit from last night is Clayton Kershaw. The 21 year old phenom was fantastic. While he didn't earn a decision, he did pitch 6 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 10 strikeouts. It's hard to imagine he's only 21 and posted an 8-8 record with a 2.79 ERA this season. Torre will be relying heavily on the young lefthander as they enter the playoffs. It looks like Randy Wolf will take the mound for game 1 and be backed up by Kershaw in game 2. After that, Joe Torre has yet to decide who the 3rd and 4th starters will be. He will have to pick from All Star Chad Billingsley, (my best bet for the 3rd spot), Jon Garland and Vincente Padilla. If I was making the decisions, I'd go with Billingsley and Garland hands down.
How will the recent offensive struggles affect the Dodgers in the playoffs? One has to be a little worried that Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Russel Martin and Orlando Hudson have all hit under .200 the last week of the regular season. One could also say they all went into a slump at the same time, and the time off before the playoffs will refresh and refocus the lineup. My guess is the latter will hold true. This lineup is too good, and too deep to not break out of the team wide slump.
You can wait for my prediction later this week!
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