Underdog Dodgers Can Make the Show

For the fourteenth straight year, Joe Torre will be managing in October. The New York Yankees, however, will be watching Torre on TV instead of playing for him.
In a move comparable to the junior varsity coach who cut Michael Jordan, the Yankees last off-season gave Torre an unacceptable offer and let him go.
Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada claimed they’d leave the Yankees too if he left. They sold out and resigned. Torre on the other hand, as always, stood tall.
Now, he will be standing at the top of the dugout at Dodger Stadium managing the Los Angeles Dodgers to the World Series
Though they enter the playoffs as a long shot, the Dodgers strong rotation, solid bullpen and dred-locked left fielder will carry the Dodgers past the Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series.
Starting pitcher Derek Lowe is 6-1 in his last 10 starts with a 1.27 earned run average and starter Chad Billingsley has 16 wins, 199 strikeouts and a team low 3.14 ERA. The addition of future hall of famer Greg Maddux gives the Dodgers rotation depth and experience.
The Dodgers bullpen has four relievers with an earned run average under four and a now-healthy closer Tasaki Saito.
Jonathan Broxton and Joe Biemel give the Dodgers the edge. This righty, lefty combo is reminiscent of the way Torre used Jeff Nelson and Mike Stanton in the Yankees World Series victories in the late 90s.
As for the Cubs, Ryan Dempster has been consistent but that has not been the case with the rest of the rotation or bullpen.
Carlos Zambrano threw a no-hitter, then didn’t make it out of the fourth inning his next two starts. Ted Lilly has given up 32 home runs this season and outside of Carlos Marmol, getting the ball to first-year closer Kerry wood has been difficult at times.
The Cubs weak and inexperienced ’pen does not have a shut-down left handed pitcher to stop Dodger sluggers Andre Ethier and James Loney from getting on base in the late innings.
As for the Cubs lineup, last year against the Arizona Diamondbacks in round one, Chicago’s heavy hitters were contained and Arizona took the best-of-five series.
Beside pitching, what tips the scale for the Dodgers is the trade-deadline acquisition of Manny Ramirez.
In 53 games with the Dodgers Ramirez hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in. But more importantly, Ramirez has 24 career playoff home runs, two world series championships and had a .508 on base percentage in the 2007 playoffs.
For Torre, working with the former Red Sock Ramirez must feel like Republicans getting support from former Democrat turned Independent Joe Lieberman, a little strange, but beneficial none the less.
On the other side of the bracket, the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers will face off in a series likely to set NLDS records for home runs.
C.C. Sabathia has dominated since being traded to the Brewers, but struggled in his playoff past. In four playoff starts, he has a 7.17 earned run average.
The Phillies starting rotation is weaker, but lefty J.C. Romero and closer Brad Lidge have been the kind of stoppers that the Brewers lack. Romero allowed just 41 hits in 59 innings and Lidge did not blow a save in all of 2008.
Though the Phillies will likely win the division series, hitting doesn’t get you to the world series, just ask the Yankees.
The Dodgers swept the Phillies in late August by shutting down the left handed power hitters Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.
Twenty years after the Dodgers won the world series under Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre will lead them back. All while Hank Steinbrenner sits on his pinstripe throne pouting behind his shades.