A look at the best-of-five National League division series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs:
Schedule (All times EDT): Game 1, Wednesday, at Chicago (6:37 p.m.); Game 2, Thursday, at Chicago (9:37 p.m.); Game 3, Saturday, at Los Angeles (10:07 p.m.); x-Game 4, Sunday, at Los Angeles (TBA); x-Game 5, Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Chicago (TBA). (All games on TBS).
x-if necessary.
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Season Series: Chicago won 5-2.
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Projected Lineups
Dodgers: CF Matt Kemp (.290, 18 HRs, 76 RBIs, 35 SB), C Russell Martin (.280, 13, 69, 18 SB), LF Manny Ramirez (.396, 17, 53 in 53 games with Dodgers after July 31 trade from Boston; .332, 37, 121 overall), RF Andre Ethier (.305, 20, 77), 1B James Loney (.289, 13, 90), 3B Casey Blake (.251, 10, 23 in 59 games with Dodgers after July 26 trade from Cleveland; .274, 21, 81 overall), 2B Blake DeWitt (.264, 9, 52), SS Angel Berroa (.230, 1, 16).
oblems, could start. He’d hit leadoff in a rearranged batting order.
Cubs: LF Alfonso Soriano (.280, 29, 79, 19 SB), SS Ryan Theriot (.307, 1, 38, 22 SB), 1B Derrek Lee (.291, 20, 90), 3B Aramis Ramirez (.289, 27, 111), CF Jim Edmonds (.256, 19. 49 with Cubs after cut by San Diego on May 9; .235, 20, 55 overall), C Geovany Soto (.285, 23, 86), 2B Mark DeRosa (.285, 21, 87), RF Kosuke Fukudome (.257, 10, 58, 12 SB).
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Projected Rotations
Dodgers: RH Derek Lowe (14-11, 3.24 ERA), RH Chad Billingsley (16-10, 3.14, 201 strikeouts), RH Hiroki Kuroda (9-10, 3.73), RH Greg Maddux (2-4, 5.09 in 7 starts with Dodgers after trade from San Diego; 8-13, 4.22 overall).
Cubs: RH Ryan Dempster (17-6, 2.96), RH Carlos Zambrano (14-6, 3.91), RH Rich Harden (5-1, 1.77, 89 strikeouts in 12 starts with Cubs after July 8 trade from Oakland; 10-2, 2.07 in 25 starts overall), LH Ted Lilly (17-9, 4.09).
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Relievers
Dodgers: RH Jonathan Broxton (3-5, 3.13, 14/16 saves), RH Takashi Saito (4-4, 2.49, 18/21 saves), LH Joe Beimel (5-1, 2.02), RH Cory Wade (2-1, 2.27), RH Chan Ho Park (4-4, 3.40), LH Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 4.26 in 22 games, 21 starts).
ason Marquis (11-9, 4.53 in 29 games, 28 starts), RH Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 2.28).
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Matchups
s young “live” arms in the bullpen, where Marmol has developed into one of baseball’s best setup men. Samardzija, a football star at Notre Dame, made the playoff roster because of the zip on his fastball and his ability to handle loud crowds and pressure situations.
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Big Picture
missed two months with a strained ligament in his right elbow before returning two weeks ago. Broxton had 14 saves in 16 chances during his absence. … The Dodgers reached October despite the flop of free agent CF Andruw Jones, who hit just .158 with three homers and 14 RBIs in the first season of a two-year, $36.2 million contract. They’re also without opening-day starter Brad Penny, limited by a right shoulder injury to 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA in 19 outings.
longer than any current player, is in the playoffs for the fourth time – second as a reliever and first as a closer. He was a starter in 1998 and 2003. Five years ago he was the loser in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Marlins, a game in which he homered. … Dempster knows what Wood has experienced this season because he was the closer a year ago and had 28 saves in 31 chances. … Soriano twice went on the disabled list this season but as the leadoff hitter still topped the highest-scoring team in the NL with 29 homers. Chicago had five other players reach the 20-homer mark. … Zambrano batted .337 and hit four homers, giving him 16 for his career. He is a switch-hitter. … The Cubs were 55-26 at Wrigley Field and 42-38 on the road.
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Watch For
– Manny Being Awesome. How will Chicago handle the sizzling Ramirez? The 12-time All-Star and 2004 World Series MVP went 8-for-13 with five RBIs in his first three games with the Dodgers, and that was just the beginning. He became a team leader almost immediately, adding life to a previously drab clubhouse, and he’s hustled all the way.
nce against St. Louis in the outing after the no-hitter, Zambrano started to leave the mound before the manager arrived. Piniella made him go back and hand him the ball.
– Young Gun or Old Hand? When laying out his playoff rotation, Torre would only go through the first three games, with Lowe, Billingsley and Kuroda getting starts. The 42-year-old Maddux, eighth on the career wins list with 355, pitched six shutout innings in his last outing but gave up seven runs in five innings in the one before that. The 20-year-old Kershaw won his last three decisions, but Torre said he’ll use him out of the bullpen. That makes sense because LHP Hong-Chih Kuo, 5-3 with a 2.14 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 80 innings, won’t be available for at least the first round because of a possible circulation problem.
– Cubs In The Clutch. Against the Diamondbacks in the opening round last year, two of Chicago’s best run producers went flat. Ramirez finished the series 0-for-12 and Soriano was 2-for-14 as the Cubs went 2-for-23 with runners in scoring position.
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