Puffing in the Posteason: 2009, page two

Fans enjoy a smoke in the Camacho Lounge at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Posted: October 5, 2009

(continued from page 1)

The Cards also have the two best pitchers of any playoff team in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. You don't need much more than that to see why the Cards are holding a good hand.

The Cards will be the away team in the first round facing the NL West champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers of, um, Los Angeles. The Dodgers limped badly during the last week of the season, wrapping up the much-stronger division for the second year in a row in a shutout over the wild-card Colorado Rockies in game 161. Can you say Joe Torre?

The Dodgers faced an early challenge this season when Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for the use of a banned substance. It was steroids, but the stories surrounding the disclosure were as bizarre as "ManRam's" antics in the field, sometimes even forgetting he has just struck out. Left field, known as "Mannywood" at Chavez Ravine, was taken over by veteran Juan Pierre. Let me state categorically that Pierre is a much better baseball player than Ramirez and without Pierre's performance all season, the Dodgers don't get to where they are. Manny apparently has also forgotten he's supposed to hit. If he doesn't, the first round could be painful for LA. Discuss among yourselves.

Of course, the Dodgers were hugely aided by the emergence of two rising stars, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Ethier had six walk-off hits, four of them dingers, this season, the most of any year since at least 1974, the year that stat began being kept. Ethier and Kemp also had more than 100 RBI, something not usually associated with a Dodgers hitter. James Loney, the Dodgers first baseman, had 90 RBI, but was criticized all year for his lack of corner infielder power. Dodger pitching has pretty much gone haywire, though the team finished with the best team ERA (3.41) in the league and have a 7th, 8th and 9th inning trio of relievers to give opponents pause. Kuo to Sherrill to Broxton. Still, very significant for me, parking stinks at Dodger Stadium.

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