Dodgers Advance, Sweep Cardinals

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am shocked that the Dodgers swept the Cardinals in the NLDS. I thought this was going to go down to the fifth and deciding game, instead the Dodgers took care of business quickly and are sitting in the driver’s seat as they await the winner of the Phillies and Rockies series.

Game 1 

The Dodgers jumped on Carpenter early with a 2 run homer courtesy of Matt Kemp. Dodgers starter Randy Wolf had some trouble, giving up 2 runs while throwing 82 pitches in only 3.2 innings. But their bullpen of Weaver, Belisario, Kuo, Sherrill, and Broxton pitched 5.1 innings giving up only 1 run on 6 hits.  

Game 2

The Cardinals wasted a gem by Adam Wainwright. The potential Cy Young award winner pitched 8 strong innings while giving up only 1 run on 3 hits and striking out 7. The Dodgers couldn’t get anything going against Wainwright, but their bats came alive once they got into the Cardinals bullpen. Matt Holliday’s error sparked a two out rally for the Dodgers. Ronnie Belliard singled up the middle to tie the game at 2. Then pinch hitter Mark Loretta provided the game winning walk off hit, dumping a single into left-center, and just like that the series went from being tied at 1-1 to the Dodgers taking a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Game 3

Newly added Vicente Padilla pitched surprisingly well, shutting out the Cardinal’s offense over 7 innings. The Cardinal’s starter Joel Pineiro pitched a disappointing 4 innings, giving up 7 hits and 4 runs. The Dodger’s high-powered offense put up 12 hits against Cardinals pitching with 9 of the hits coming from a combination of Furcal, Kemp, Ethier, and Ramirez (top of the lineup). Jonathan Broxton got the final 4 outs of the game and the Dodgers swept the Cardinals and are moving on to the NLCS.