Imagine, Kuroda, the Opening Day starter, a nightmare for the Phillies, starting Game 3 in the tied National League Championship Series. Game 3, a "pivotal" game, typically, said Torre; a "statement" game.

Torre wanted Kuroda to make his statement.

Kuroda was 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA against the Phillies, counting the playoffs last year.

Kuroda also was coming off a herniation in his cervical spine – a sore neck – that sidelined him since Sept. 29, cost him his last regular-season start, and cost him the chance to pitch in the NL Division Series. Kuroda believed the neck pain stemmed from the line drive he took off his head Aug. 15 that cost him 3 weeks.

Kuroda was impressive in a simulated game in Arizona on Tuesday, a glorified bullpen session in which he threw 60 total pitches. He rebounded well the next day, then he was as impressive in a bullpen session 2 days later.

Torre saw the simulated game. He trusted pitching coach Rick Honeycutt about the bullpen session.

Both were conducted in West-warm conditions.

The simulated game, against Arizona Fall League talent.

Kuroda looked ready.

Kuroda was not ready.

Last night, in 46-degree weather, against one of baseball's most destructive lineups, Kuroda lasted four outs in the 11-0 loss.

He surrendered six runs off six hits. His fastball ran into the meatiest part of the plate. His split-fingered fastball was anything but deceptive.

In the first inning he gave up four one-out runs on four straight hits – single, single, triple, homer.

In the second, after Carlos Ruiz led off with a double and Cliff Lee sacrificed him to third, Jimmy Rollins doubled and Kuroda was done. When Rollins later scored, it gave Kuroda those six earned runs in those 1 1/3 innings.

"The movement wasn't there," Rollins said. "He was throwing strikes, but they were meaty strikes. I don't know if it was his neck, or whatever, but that's the first thing that happens when you're injured: You lose your control."

Kuroda insisted his neck was fine. The cold did not affect him. He even had a good pregame bullpen session.

And then?

"I don't know. I just didn't have my stuff," he said.

It was his worst start in his 53 major league starts; he is 34, with a star's legacy left behind for Hiroshima in the Japan Central League, and a strong start in his second career.

He won twice as a "rookie" in the playoffs last year for the Dodgers. He beat the Phillies in Game 3 of the NLCS last year, the only game the Dodgers won. He shut them out for six innings on June 6. Within 10 days in August last season he limited them to one run twice, lasting seven innings, then six.

He was too good to waste. If the Dodgers were going to put him on the roster for the NLCS, last night was his night. That way, he could be brought back for Game 6 or Game 7, Friday or Saturday. A two-fer from the Phillies killer.

Torre admitted before the game that it would be better for Kuroda to log another rehab start before taking the mound again, but, since these are playoff days, that might be a wasted luxury.

"You've got to make a decision," Torre said.

He made the wrong decision.

He would make it again.

"I don't second-guess the decision, because we made it on what we saw," Torre said. "If it was a rust situation, it wouldn't have shown up the way it did."

Then again, if Kuroda was well-oiled, their bats wouldn't have behaved the way they did.

Dodges

Dodgers manager Joe Torre moved Ronnie Belliard from seventh to second in the order last night to face lefthander Cliff Lee. He usually bats lefty Andre Ethier second against lefties, but Ethier was hitless against Lee in three at-bats when he faced him last season - a coincidence, probably, since Ethier (hitting .450 in the postseason) hit third last night. More notably, Belliard was hitting .316 in the postseason, while third baseman Casey Blake, who was dropped to seventh, was hitting .211 and held hitless in Game 1 against lefty Cole Hamels . . . One league source said most of the Dodgers grumbled about having to work out on the field in wet, chilly conditions Saturday . . . In the clubhouse Saturday, Torre had tape of the 2003 ALCS running, when his Yankees beat the Red Sox on slumping Aaron Boone's unlikely, off-the-bench, walkoff solo home run in the 11th inning Game 7. Current backup infielder Doug Mientkiewicz was on that Red Sox team that, in 2004, overcame a 3-0 ALCS lead to beat Torre's Yanks, and yesterday was his turn. "Turnabout is fair play," Torre said. "Mientkiewicz made me watch 2004."