NL West

Since the end of the regular season, there has been a veritable carousel of coaching changes that have occurred around baseball. Now with the offseason just a couple of weeks old, we’re beginning to hear names associated with various jobs around the league.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are heavily involved having placed several coaches on the carousel themselves. I thought it might be interesting to look at what we know right now.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four…

The National League championship series is tied at 1-1 heading back to Philadelphia.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slipped by surrendering home field advantage, but all it takes is stealing one win from the Philadelphia Phillies to shift the balance of power back into their hands.

I have been so busy with the baseball playoffs that I nearly missed the press release by the Arizona Diamondbacks announcing the selection of a contractor for the new Spring Training home of the Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Now that the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs are behind us, I thought I’d check back in and see how well my prognostic skills were doing.  When I made my predictions for the 2009 post season I was clearly hopped up on cough syrup or some sort of delusional medication.

By Ryan of The Sportmeisters

About The Philadelphia Phillies:

The Phillies march into the NLCS by virtue of winning a four game series against the Colorado Rockies.

In the NLDS, the Phillies were led by six players hitting above .300 in the series.  Leading the charge were RF Jayson Werth (.357, two home runs) and Shane Victorino (.353, home run). 

A wise man once said that age is nothing but a number.

The Los Angeles Dodgers certainly hope that is the case on Thursday evening when 21-year old Clayton Kershaw steps to the bump against the defending World Series Champions.

Manager Joe Torre announced late on Wednesday afternoon that the southpaw would get the call in Game One as the Dodgers look to get revenge for a loss in last season’s NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in pursuit of the franchise’s first pennant since 1988.

That season, they went on to win the World Series behind the heroic effort of Kirk Gibson and the steady arm of Orel Hershiser.

In 2009, the Dodgers will turn to a young core, including 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw to start the series, in an attempt to break the World Series drought.