10 Questions You Need Answered Heading into the NLCS

To get a better gauge on the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, I decided to ask two hardcore, dedicated members of Bleacher Report what their thoughts were headed into the NLCS. The following is a Q&A of 10 questions that should hopefully help you get a better idea of what to expect.

Dodgers Community Leader Molly Gray:

1. The Dodgers managed to hit only .250 as a team in the three-game sweep of the Cubs but scored 20 runs in the process. Do you expect this trend of clutch, run-scoring, extra-base hits to continue?

MG: If I were to look at the entire season, I’d have to say no. However, in comparing the OBPs over the last 30 days to the OBPs over the regular season, the numbers have gone way up.

In the regular season, the Dodgers had only two players with an OBP of over .400 (Manny Ramirez (.489) and Rafael Furcal (.439) there was a third, Terry Tiffee, but he had only four at-bats, so we’ll leave him out of this).

We’ve seen that change towards the end of the season with eight of the Dodgers players having OBPs of over .400. Andre Ethier improved from .375 to .500, Jeff Kent improved from .327 to .500, and rookie Blake DeWitt improved from .344 to .425, to name a few.

This might seem elementary, but the Dodgers have realized that to get runs you have to get men on base, which they’ve been able to accomplish down the stretch and into these playoffs.


2. Russell Martin, Manny Ramirez, and James Loney combined to go 12-for-37 (.324), with nine runs, four homers, and 14 RBI in the NLDS. Can this trio maintain their scorching postseason run?

MG: We all know that Manny Ramirez is a man among boys in the N.L. and will of course maintain his postseason run. However, both Martin and Loney are very inexperienced when it comes to the playoffs. Martin and Loney played in the '06 playoffs, but both lack significant experience in the postseason.

Both of these players have been streaky this season. If you look at stats from the last 30 days, Loney and Martin are batting .200 and .267, respectively, which is not characteristic of the type of numbers they put up against the Cubs.

If they can keep it up, I think it will be one of the deciding factors in a victorious Los Angeles team coming out of the NLCS; however, I will be less surprised if we see those type of numbers out of more experienced and consistent players such as Casey Blake.

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