The Los Angeles Dodgers set an all-time franchise record this season by having 22 different pitchers earn at least one win.
Good news?
Not really.
More than anything, it only confirms the fact that the Dodgers have lots of small pieces on their pitching staff … but no ace.
Never is that more evident than in the pitching match-ups for the first two games of the National League Divisional Series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.
Who would you rather have as your top two pitchers in the playoffs?
Journeyman Randy Wolf, an 11-game winner; and Clayton Kershaw, who finished with a .500 record?
Or Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, both of whom have legitimate cases for winning the NL Cy Young?
About the only thing the Dodgers have going for them in the first round of the playoffs is home field advantage against the Cardinals. But let’s face it: The Dodgers earned home field advantage with wins before the All-Star break; not in September or October.
How else do you explain them losing five of six games to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres down the stretch … when two wins during that time would have clinched the NL West division a lot earlier than Oct. 3?
The Dodgers may have the record to prove they were the best team in the league during the regular season; but that means squat come October.
It looks like a minor miracle … or Randy Wolf turning into a postseason Orel Hershiser … are the best hopes for Los Angeles in postseason 2009.
Good news?
Not really.
More than anything, it only confirms the fact that the Dodgers have lots of small pieces on their pitching staff … but no ace.
Never is that more evident than in the pitching match-ups for the first two games of the National League Divisional Series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.
Who would you rather have as your top two pitchers in the playoffs?
Journeyman Randy Wolf, an 11-game winner; and Clayton Kershaw, who finished with a .500 record?
Or Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, both of whom have legitimate cases for winning the NL Cy Young?
About the only thing the Dodgers have going for them in the first round of the playoffs is home field advantage against the Cardinals. But let’s face it: The Dodgers earned home field advantage with wins before the All-Star break; not in September or October.
How else do you explain them losing five of six games to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres down the stretch … when two wins during that time would have clinched the NL West division a lot earlier than Oct. 3?
The Dodgers may have the record to prove they were the best team in the league during the regular season; but that means squat come October.
It looks like a minor miracle … or Randy Wolf turning into a postseason Orel Hershiser … are the best hopes for Los Angeles in postseason 2009.
