The Dugout: Pitching key to early postseason victories

Pitching is usually what wins games in the postseason, and this year is no different.

Teams that have received solid starts from their pitchers have had success, while teams receiving little support from their starting rotation are struggling.

The St. Louis Cardinals were widely considered to have the best rotation of all postseason teams, with arguably two of the top three pitchers in the league in Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.

If the underdog Cardinals were going to give the Dodgers a fight, they would have to heavily rely on their excellent pitching staff.

Carpenter, however, threw one of the worst games of his season on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Historically a very good postseason pitcher, Carpenter gave up four runs on nine hits during five innings of work. Hardly an awful line, but for a Cy Young candidate pitching in a crucial postseason series, that performance was especially painful for St. Louis.

On Friday, the Cardinals handed the ball to Wainwright, who pitched a solid eight innings, giving up one run on just three hits. Wainwright struck out seven and walked one, but the Cardinals lost that game despite a late-inning lead.

The final score of 3-2 can be blamed on Ryan Franklin and outfielder Matt Holliday, whose costly error in left field kept the inning alive.

Franklin, an All-Star, was given the task of retiring the final three Dodger’s batters to preserve a beautiful start from Wainwright. Franklin ended up surrendering the game-winning hit to Mark Loretta, 38, who hit just .232 this season.

Yesterday, the Dodgers completed the sweep with another victory over the Cardinals. St. Louis was able to send another great pitcher to the mound in Joel Pineiro, but he faltered and the St. Louis offense was able to score just one run against Vincente Padilla and the ensuing Dodger relievers.

In the first game of the NLDS between the Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies, Cliff Lee, traded from the Cleveland Indians just a few months before, threw a complete nine innings, giving up just one run on six hits. Considering this is the first postseason start of his life, that’s quite the accomplishment.

Lee dominated the second-highest scoring offense in the National League. At one point, he retired 16 straight batters. The reigning AL Cy Young winner was well on his way to a complete game shutout: He had an 0-2 count on Troy Tulowitzki with two outs in the ninth inning with a runner on first.

Lee claimed to have stepped off the mound to take in the moment, and then threw three straight balls and eventually a run-scoring double to Tulowitzki. With a 6-1 lead, though, it hardly mattered.

The Phillies followed up the brilliant performance from Lee with another usually-superb pitcher: Cole Hamels. One year removed from being the NLCS and World Series MVP, Hamels gave up four runs in just five innings of work. The Phillies fought back, though, with key hits from Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez. Not being able to throw a complete game, however, allowed the Phillies the chance to show off their surprisingly solid bullpen. A group of six relievers strung together four innings of one-run, two-hit baseball. It should be noted, however, that Brad Lidge didn’t play in this game.

Philadelphia lost by a final score of 5-4. It was mentioned after the game that Hamels had left the game early to attend to his wife, who was in labor with their first child.

Normally, when a pitcher leaves the game early after a poor outing we assume the worse, but here’s hoping Hamels savored the experience of becoming a father for the first time and can return to pitch when he feels ready.

Last night’s game was postponed due to inclement Colorado weather. Pedro Martinez was originally slated to start for the Phillies, but J.A. Happ will start in his place tonight against the Rockies’ Jason Hammel. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

In the American League, the New York Yankees travel to Minnesota in hopes of closing out the Twins (4:07 p.m., TBS), while the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are one win away from finally defeating their nemeses from Boston (9:07 a.m., TBS).

Andrew Kneeland is a junior at the Arizona Virtual Academy. He is an intern at the Green Valley News.