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Dodgers hoping home field turns momentum in series

Oct 12, 2008 - 1:37 PM National League Championship Series Philadelphia leads 2-0

Philadelphia at LA Dodgers, 8:22 p.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers had success against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium during the regular season. If the club has any hopes of getting back into the National League Championship Series, Los Angeles will need that to translate to the playoffs.

Los Angeles hopes to avoid a three-games-to-none hole when it hosts Philadelphia in Game Three of the National League Championship Series on Sunday.

While the Dodgers have lost all six meetings in Philadelphia this year, Los Angeles swept a four-game series at home from August 11-14.

"We need to get things back on our side," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "And I don't want to say it's more comfortable coming home, but it should give us a little more confidence."

Japanese rookie Hiroki Kuroda (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the hill for the Dodgers, who lost 3-2 and 8-5, in Games One and Two, respectively.

Kuroda won the clinching game of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs on October 4, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 3-1 victory. The righthander went 1-0 in two starts against Philadelphia during the regular season, allowing two runs and four hits over 13 frames.

The Phillies will counter with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer (0-1, 4.50). The crafty lefthander gave up two runs over four innings in a Game Three loss to the Milwaukee Brewers during the divisional series. The loss was his first since August 5.

"We've got off to a nice start here in this series and it will be nice to go out for us tomorrow and play together as a team and put together a nice game and see what happens," Moyer said. "This is probably the deepest I've been in a postseason. And it makes it all worthwhile. You sit, you dream about these types of situations."

Moyer will have a tough act to follow at the plate after Philadelphia's Game Two starter Brett Myers went 3-for-3 with three RBI. The southpaw was 4-for-51 (.078) this season.

The Philadelphia starter will also have to deal with Manny Ramirez, who is batting .444 (8-for-18) in the postseason with three home runs and seven RBI. The slugger blasted a three-run homer in Game Two.