Clayton Kershaw May Get an NLCS Start

We already talked about the Phillies' NLCS rotation earlier today, so it's only fair that we take some time to tackle the Dodgers. Joe Torre has shied away from setting things as solidly in stone as Charlie Manuel did, and he's only named the starters for the first three games of the series thus far. They are, in order, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, and Hiroki Kuroda. From there, Torre's less forthcoming.

One option that hasn't been ruled out is 20-year-old phenom Clayton Kershaw. He's a lefty and the Phillies have a lot of left-handed power, so starting him would make some sense. Of course, starting a 20-year-old with only 21 decent big-league starts under his belt in the middle of the NLCS is a risk for any manager and it seems particularly unlikely that it's one that a guy with Joe Torre's track record would take.

Of course, Torre's options are pretty limited beyond Kershaw. Greg Maddux is a possibility, but he was pretty terrible after his trade to LA. The other option is to use Lowe on short rest in Game 4, then maybe Kershaw in Game 5 and figure things out from there. Lowe is a sinkerballer that shouldn't have much trouble going on short rest, so I'd bet Torre breaks that way if Game 4 is must win for the Dodgers.

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