Los Angeles Dodgers v St Louis Cardinals; Game 1 – Game Info

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Baseball’s version of the Final Four commences this evening with Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals. The sniping has already begun. Does that honestly surprise you?

Team Notes

Dodgers

• Hanley Ramirez torched the Braves pitching staff to the tune of a .500 batting average with a home run and six RBI.
• Carl Crawford looked good in the NLDS. He hit three HR and scored six runs.
• No Dodgers starter hit below .200 in the NLDS against Atlanta. The team’s triple slash for the four games: .333/.390/.572.

Cardinals

• The Cards leading hitter for their NLDS? Pete Kozma (4-for-10, .400)
• NL MVP candidate Matt Carpenter limps into the NLCS having hit .053 (1-for-19) for the NLDS.
• Having led the NL in runs per game during the regular season (4.83), the Cards scored 15 runs in the five games in their NLDS series against Pittsburgh.

Venue, Audio and TV Info

Date: Friday, October 11th
Start Time: 8:30 PM EST
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Venue: Busch Stadium III
TV Info: TBS
Radio Info: ESPN Radio, 570 FOX Sports (LA), KMOX 1120 (STL)
Live Stream: MLB.tv or the MLB at Bat 12 App.

Roster Moves

The Dodgers did make a couple of changes from the NLDS. Paco Rodriguez and Chris Capuano were removed. In their places, Carlos Marmol and Edinson Volquez. As Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com reports, bullpen concerns was the reason for the moves.
PITCHERS: Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-jin Ryu, Ricky Nolasco, Kenley Jansen, Brian Wilson, Ronald Belisario, Carlos Marmol, J.P. Howell, Chris Withrow, Edinson Volquez.

POSITION PLAYERS: A.J. Ellis, Tim Federowicz, Adrian Gonzalez, Ellis, Hanley Ramirez, Uribe, Nick Punto, Michael Young, Dee Gordon, Carl Crawford, Skip Schumaker, Yasiel Puig, Scott Van Slyke, Andre Ethier

The Cardinals will stay with the same 25:
PITCHERS: Kelly, Michael Wacha, Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Kevin Siegrist, Randy Choate, Carlos Martinez, John Axford, Edward Mujica, Seth Maness

POSITION PLAYERS: Yadier Molina, Tony Cruz, Matt Adams, Matt Carpenter, Pete Kozma, Daniel Descalso, Kolten Wong, David Freese, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, Jon Jay, Shane Robinson, Adron Chambers

Starting Pitchers

The Dodgers come with their “other ace” in Zack Greinke (15-4, 2.63 ERA, 1.114 WHIP) taking the ball in Game 1. His performance in Game 2 of the NLDS was sifficient for a win (6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 SO), but the Dodgers bullpen gave the game to the Braves in the 7th inning. LA didn’t attempt a comeback, but it fell a run short.

Greinke hasn’t pitched since that game, exactly one week ago.

St. Louis will look to Joe Kelly (10-5, 2.69 ERA, 1.355 WHIP) for the series first game. His line from Game 3 of the NLDS: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO. He suffered a similar fate as Greinke: decent enough for a win, but the ‘pen wobbled.

Kelly will be on regular rest for tonight’s game.

Starting Lineups