Clayton Kershaw

  Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Vicente Padilla (5-3, 3.09 ERA ) vs. Phillies RHP Kyle Kendric k (7-4, 4.37).   Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Chad Billingsley (9-6, 3.82) vs. Phillies RHP Roy Oswal t (0-1, 4.38).   Thursday at 7:05 p.m. LHP Clayton Kershaw (10-7, 3.19) vs. Phillies RHP Joe Blanton (4-6, 5.65).

When the Dodgers acquired Ted Lilly from the Cubs on Saturday, they deepened their staff but didn't upgrade the top of their rotation. The lefthander, 34, has some playoff experience, the kind he'd prefer to forget. The addition of Lilly does little to ease the burden on Clayton Kershaw, above, as the No. 1. Kershaw is talented and appears to have a great future, but the lefthander is only 22. He does have postseason experience. Hiroki Kuroda has yet to develop the consistency the Dodgers need from him, but Chad Billingsley has been getting more effective as the season wears on.

Who's hot PHILLIES: Davey Lopes The Phillies' first-base coach turned down an opportunity to join fellow Dodgers greats Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Bill Russell for the ceremonial first pitch. Lopes' reasoning was he is with the Phillies now, and this was a Dodgers ceremony. DODGERS: James Loney He hit only .250 in the NLDS against St. Louis, but his home run in the second inning last night gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. It was a big hit, since Loney hit only one home run - of his 13 - at Dodger Stadium all year.

The three-game series starts Tuesday at AT&T Park. The Giants won three out of four in San Diego to gain a share of first place in the NL West for the first time since May 6. The Giants have won nine of their last 12 and are going against a withering Dodgers team that has lost 11 of its last 15 while the Padres go against the white-hot Rockies in Colorado. The Dodgers will throw three quality starters - Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley and Ted Lilly - against their division rivals, and even when they're going bad, they can be motivated playing the Giants.

Day 1. The Phillies won Game 1, following a pattern that has proved to be successful for them. They won the opener of the National League Division Series against Milwaukee, the National League Championship Series against Los Angeles and the World Series last year. They won the first game of this year's Division Series against Colorado. In each case, that proved to be a springboard to win the series. Wake-up call. Why did Dodgers manager Joe Torre give starter Clayton Kershaw such a long leash in the fifth inning when the 21-year-old lefthander was clearly having a meltdown.

Flush with cash after the team's sale this year, the Los Angeles Dodgers are busy spending it on starting pitching. The team introduced lefthander Ryu Hyun-Jin of South Korea on Monday, making him the first player ever to go directly from the Korean league to the major leagues. And he was just the setup man. The Dodgers finalized a $147 million, six-year deal with free agent right-hander Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young winner, later in the day. The deals for Greinke and Ryu give the Dodgers eight starting pitchers under contract for next season, including 2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

The Phillies drafted Randy Wolf in 1997, the year the Daily News was running comparisons between the Phils and 1962 Mets through the first 4 months of the season. The 1997 Phils were that bad in Terry Francona's first year as manager. Much has changed since then. Wolf became a solid starter from 1999 to 2005 as the Phillies began to improve. Then, Wolf got hurt. Then, in November 2006, he signed with the Dodgers. The Phillies finally made the playoffs the next season.

FOR BRYCE Harper, two homers in his first two at-bats, and even some "M-V-P!" chants. For Stephen Strasburg, 19 consecutive outs during one stretch of seven scoreless innings. And for the defending NL East champion Washington Nationals, a 2-0 victory over the visiting Miami Marlins on Monday in Game 1 of a season lame-duck manager Davey Johnson declared months ago should be defined as "World Series or bust. " "You couldn't draw it up any better. No question. And to have the two youngsters go out, do what they did?

Stephen Strasburg is ready for his first big-league season without restrictions. Ready to go from season's start to finish. Ready to throw as many pitches as it takes and to stay on the mound as long as possible, including into the eighth and ninth inning, something he's never done in the majors. All-star ace Strasburg will start the season opener for the defending NL East champion Washington Nationals on Monday against a visiting Miami Marlins club that traded away most of its best players, cut its payroll by more than half, starts with seven players on the disabled list and has a rookie manager in Mike Redmond.

Flush with cash after the team's sale this year, the Los Angeles Dodgers are busy spending it on starting pitching. The team introduced lefthander Ryu Hyun-Jin of South Korea on Monday, making him the first player ever to go directly from the Korean league to the major leagues. And he was just the setup man. The Dodgers finalized a $147 million, six-year deal with free agent right-hander Zack Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young winner, later in the day. The deals for Greinke and Ryu give the Dodgers eight starting pitchers under contract for next season, including 2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

THE LOS Angeles Dodgers made it official on Monday, announcing the signings of free-agent righthander Zack Greinke and South Korean lefthander Ryu Hyun-jin. Greinke got a 6-year deal for $147 million. Ryu signed a $36 million, 6-year deal after the Dodgers paid $25.7 million for the right to negotiate with him. "We were definitely hoping for Zack," said former Lakers star Magic Johnson, a partner in Guggenheim Baseball Management that bought the team last spring. "Zack is a proven winner.

Toronto shortstop Yunel Escobar was suspended for three games Tuesday by the Blue Jays for wearing eye-black displaying a homophobic slur written in Spanish during a game last weekend against Boston. Escobar apologized to his team and "to all those who have been offended" for what he said was meant to be "just a joke. " Escobar insisted the word is often used within teams and by Latinos and "I didn't see it as something bad. " The suspension was to have started Tuesday night.

REIGNING NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was examined Tuesday by a hip specialist who said the Los Angeles lefthander can continue to pitch without risking damage to his sore right hip - but the Dodgers want to keep him sidelined if the pain persists. The team said Kershaw would restart a throwing program Tuesday, when the Dodgers' scheduled game at the Washington Nationals was postponed by rain. The teams will play two games on Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m. Asked whether Kershaw will pitch again this season, manager Don Mattingly replied: "Yeah, maybe.

It seems Bobby V took the time to say it ain't so. Sort of. Boston Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine insisted he wasn't trying to be critical when he said his struggling Sox had "the weakest roster we've ever had in September in the history of baseball. " Yeah, ever and weakest and history are kind of definitive words. Anyway, two days after his latest inflammatory remark, Valentine offered up a clarification. He said: "The other day when I made a comment about our September roster, that wasn't meant to be a criticism of any players or anything in the organization.

STEPHEN STRASBURG might be pushing closer to that management-imposed innings limit - whatever the number might be in the mind of the brass. Washington's ace brushed off questions on the topic, and so did manager Davey Johnson. There are more important matters at hand with the NL East-leading Nationals rolling as they head into a key stretch against the division at home. Strasburg capped Washington's longest road trip of the season by winning his third straight start in a 6-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES - The visitors' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium bears little resemblance to the wide-open outfield that occupies a sizable chunk of the premises. It feels more like an obligation than a room, a cramped nook that probably has been grandfathered out of several fire-code revisions. There are no secrets in such a place, not in the wake of a loss like the one the Phillies suffered on Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after Matt Kemp handed the Dodgers a 5-3, come-from-behind win with a walkoff home run in the 12th inning, a thick silence choked the clubhouse as several players sat at their lockers with their elbows on their knees.

LOS ANGELES — For most of Tuesday night, this one seemed sentenced to a familiar fate, an inch here and a split second there separating defeat from victory. But then the eighth inning arrived, and with it a breath of life, and when the dust around home plate settled, the Phillies were right back where they started the day, riding a winning streak after a 3-2 win over the Dodgers and tempting the odds that say they should have no shot at reaching a sixth straight postseason. At the center of it all was Hunter Pence, whose two-run single with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth inning pushed home the tying and go-ahead runs.