Dodgers will use Kershaw all that they can
CHICAGO — Clayton Kershaw could have started the second or third game of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs. The Dodgers opted to start him Sunday and left-hander Rich Hill on Tuesday in Los Angeles for Game 3.
“It's one of those things, obviously, when you get a chance for Clayton to pitch Games 2 and potentially 6, that's a good thing for us,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s full go.”
The Dodgers’ fourth-game starter remains unannounced; the candidates are rookies Julio Urias and Ross Stripling. Urias is the likelier choice. Kenta Maeda, Saturday’s Game 1 starter, would be lined up to begin Game 5.
Two on, two off
The Dodgers made two alterations to the 25-man roster for the NLCS, adding utility man Enrique Hernandez and pitcher Alex Wood, while removing infielder Charlie Culberson and catcher Austin Barnes. Hernandez joins the club because, in years before 2016, he hit well against left-handed pitchers.
Hernandez started in Game 1 against Jon Lester. He hit a home run off Lester earlier this season, and he walked and lined out Saturday.
The Dodgers carried 11 pitchers during the five-game division series against Washington. But now playing a seven-game format, the team felt it needed to add another pitcher to the mix. That is Wood, who pitched well during a relief audition in September. He missed most of the summer due to elbow surgery.
Angels territory
Kyle Hendricks, who starts Game 2 for the Cubs, attended Capistrano Valley High in Mission Viejo. So, when he was asked in an interview session Saturday about his boyhood memories of the Dodgers, he had a ready retort.
“I was an Angel fan until I was 8 or 9,” Hendricks said.
And a Dodgers fan after that? “A Giants fan,” he said. “J.T. Snow was my favorite player.”
Capistrano Valley High is about 25 miles from Angel Stadium — and about 55 miles from Dodger Stadium. That’s an hour without traffic, maybe two with traffic.
Short hops
The Dodgers’ Andre Ethier hit his fourth career postseason home run, with a fairly impressive collection of victimized pitchers: Adam Wainwright, Joel Pineiro, Cole Hamels and Jon Lester. Ethier’s home run off Lester on Saturday was his first off a left-hander at any time since he tagged Hamels on Aug. 18, 2013. … The Cubs’ Javier Baez brilliantly improvised on the bases, escaping what appeared to be getting caught off third base and ending up with a steal of home — the Cubs’ first postseason steal of home since the 1907 World Series. The Cubs won the World Series in 1907 and 1908— and, as you might have heard a few million times, have not won the Series since then ... Montero’s pinch-hit grand slam was the third in major league postseason history: Montero (Cubs, 2016); Ricky Ledee (Yankees, 1999) and Mark Lewis (Reds, 1995.)