Cardinals, Dodgers bring a lot of history to matchup

LOS ANGELES - The Cardinals and Dodgers have combined for 35 National League pennants and 16 World Series championships. Managers Tony La Russa and Joe Torre are third and fifth all time in major league wins and have won six championships between them.

The Cardinals have the best one-two starting combination in baseball in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. They also have the best player in baseball. All Albert Pujols did this year was lead the NL in home runs, finished third in batting average and third in RBI.

The Dodgers won more games than any team in the National League, but had no .300 hitters and no pitchers with more than 12 wins. They also have the bizarre Manny Ramirez, who took a 50-game "vacation'' starting in early May after hitting .372 in April. Manny also hit .229 in September and struck out four times last Friday against the Rockies.

Carpenter, 2 years after undergoing Tommy John elbow surgery and a year after a nerve problem quickly ended his season, has been brilliant all year with a 17-4 record. The bigger the game, the better he pitches. In eight postseason games, he is 5-1 with a 2.53 ERA. He gets the ball for the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium in the third game of today's (9:37 p.m.) playoff tripleheader

"He's a great competitor with great stuff,'' La Russa said.

Torre is going with Randy Wolf, making the first postseason start of his career in his 11th year, eight of them with the Phillies. His 11-7 record won't dazzle until you realize he won six of his last seven decisions and held opponents to just a .227 batting average, seventh best in the NL.

If the Dodgers win the best-of-five series, they host Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS next week. If the Cardinals win and the Phillies beat the Rockies, the Phillies get home field. So there is interest in Philly in what goes down between franchises that have been winning forever.

The Dodgers will not dazzle you with personnel. And the Cardinals did beat them five of seven during the season. But the Dodgers did win all those games. And doesn't Manny have to become Manny again? Only a cynic would wonder if the reason for his spring "vacation'' played some role in his deteriorating numbers.

"He understands his responsibility here and he tries to get too big and really it affects his balance,'' Torre said. "I think when he's on his game he's probably one of the most balanced hitters there is. And I think he just has to think more in terms of smaller, like line drive instead of long way and stuff like that."

Torre is going with Wolf because of his performance.

"Wolf's excited," Torre said. "He's going to wear his heart on his sleeves. You'll see emotions. You'll see him snatch the ball back from [catcher] Russell Martin, and I think that's why he is who he is.

"Right from spring training . . . I really had no connection with him at all until this spring. And he's earned his right. That's the only thing I can say.''

Torre and La Russa have been friends since Torre's days as an Angels broadcaster when La Russa was managing Oakland.

"I feel free to go down and talk to him, ask him questions and exchange thoughts and things like that,'' Torre said. "And he's obviously a great baseball mind. He's had success everywhere he's been. And he continues to grind it out.

"I don't sense we'll be having dinner anytime this week. That I can guarantee. We were in St. Louis this year. We did break bread one night. And that's our relationship. We're close enough friends to feel comfortable having dinner, which is not very often that you have managers from different clubs doing that, I don't think.''

Managers matter, to a point. In October, more than any other month, it is almost always about the players.

Former Penn quarterback Mark DeRosa is the third baseman for the Cardinals after coming over from Cleveland halfway through the season. Onetime Phillie Ryan Franklin (1-5, 4.58 ERA inn 2006) is the Cardinals' closer. Through August, he had converted 37 of 39 save attempts and had an ERA of 1.05. Since then, he has blown three of four saves and has an ERA of 7.00.

Former Phillie Vicente Padilla is going to start Game 3 for the Dodgers. He is 4-0 for Los Angeles after making 18 starts for Texas. Jim Thome is with the Dodgers, but has been used strictly as a pinch-hitter and is not necessarily a lock to be on the NLDS roster.

Albert Pujols has not hit a home run since Sept. 9, although he led the major leagues with 47. The 79 at-bats without a homer mark the longest drought of his career. The great man said not to worry, that he was just working on a few things, that he could have hit home runs if he desired.