PHILADELPHIA -- Until he went to Arizona last week to watch Hiroki Kuroda pitch a tuneup game against some minor leaguers, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre had no intention of using Kuroda in the NLCS.
Joe should have trusted his original instincts.
Off what he thought was an encouraging outing in Arizona, Torre marked Kuroda down to start last night's third game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Big mistake.
Twenty days removed from his last game against major-league hitters, Kuroda was mugged mercilessly by the heavy-hitting Phillies in an 11-0 laugher that was decided, for all practical purposes, about 15 minutes after it started. It was the worst Dodgers' post-season defeat since the White Sox beat them by the identical score in the 1959 World Series, half a century ago.
"No, I don't second-guess the decision because we made it on what we saw," Torre said. "He came into this game and the ball just didn't behave. It was just one of those days. No excuses. They scored 11 runs, but the good news is, they beat us only once. We're still in position to tie the series (today)."
Meanwhile, trade-deadline acquisition Cliff Lee was masterful for the Phillies, tossing a three-hit shutout over eight innings to vault Philadelphia into a 2-1 series lead.
Kuroda gave up four runs in the first inning, and was gone after three batters in the second, buried under a six-hit barrage, four of them for extra bases.
In one six batter sequence, the Phillies hit for the cycle.
Kuroda didn't know what hit him. After Jimmy Rollins popped out to lead off the game, the Phils next four hitters were not fooled. Shane Victorino drilled a single to right. Chase Utley did likewise. Then bulky Ryan Howard ripped a ball down the right-field line and did his Usain Bolt impression, ending up with a two-run triple.
The rabid Phillies fans barely had settled down to a dull roar when Jayson Werth bludgeoned a pitch into the greenery some 40 feet beyond the fence in dead centre to account for two more runs.
In the second inning, catcher Carlos Ruiz led off with a double in the left-centre gap, Lee sacrificed him along and Rollins doubled Ruiz home to make it 5-0, ending Kuroda's horrific adventure.
After reliever Scott Elbert walked the bases full again, Howard delivered another run with an infield groundout.
"Six runs early like that becomes a snowball rolling down the hill," Torre said.
Insulated by a half-dozen runs, Lee pounded the strike zone relentlessly, inviting contact. The Dodgers complied by stroking a steady stream of groundball outs and lazy fly balls.
He scattered three singles without walking a batter, and never allowed a base-runner past second base. When he needed to, Lee was able to bear down and get 10 men on strikes.
In his three post-season starts, Lee is 2-0 with a no-decision and an earned run average of 0.74 and, despite throwing 114 pitches last night, should be well rested for Game 6, if necessary, on Friday in LA.
To add insult to injury, when he came to the plate to a massive ovation in the eighth inning, Lee promptly drilled a single up the middle, helping to set the table for a three-run homer by Victorino. Ironically, had the Phils not scored those three runs, Lee was going to come out to pitch the ninth. Instead, manager Charlie Manuel went to Chad Durbin for the last three outs.
"If I'd know that, I would have hit into a double play," Lee said jokingly.
KEN.FIDLIN@SUNMEDIA.CA
