Padilla Delivers L.A. Sweep, Vindication

ST. LOUIS -- Two years in a row now the Dodgers have taken a player who was so maddening to his previous team that it was willing to pay him to play somewhere else.

Two years in a row, that player has been instrumental in getting the Dodgers to the League Championship Series.

As they stood in a clubhouse thick with the smell of champagne after they finished off a sweep with Saturday's 5-1 victory over the favored Cardinals in the National League Division Series, the Dodgers had both of their cast-offs to thank for the latest victory: Manny Ramirez came back to life with three hits, and Vicente Padilla continued his unlikely run of dominant pitching since general manager Ned Colletti picked him off the scrap heap.

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"I believe in giving everyone an opportunity," Colletti said. "I don't know what went on in Texas. All we ever get is what other people tell you. I heard the same thing with the left fielder we got last year. There were all these preconceived notions about him, and he got us all the way to the LCS. I told [Padilla] 'We have no preconceived notions. You start with a clean slate here. You'll write the next chapter. I won't write the next chapter. Joe [Torre] won't write the next chapter. You will.' You know what? So far he's penned a pretty good piece."

A masterpiece, actually.

Padilla's performance against the Cardinals on Saturday, seven dominating scoreless innings, was no less than the game of his career. Although the Dodgers led the best-of-five series 2-0, there was still a fair amount of pressure facing Padilla and the Dodgers. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had co-aces Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright lined up to pitch the next two games if they could win Game 3.

The sellout crowd of 47,296 -- the largest in the history of the new Busch Stadium -- had barely gotten into its seats and started waving its white towels when the Cardinals threatened to deliver an early knockout blow to Padilla. They loaded the bases in the first inning, with noted clutch specialist Yadier Molina at the plate.

Instead, Padilla got Molina on a groundout to short. By the time the Cardinals got their next man on base, in the fourth inning, the Dodgers had taken a 3-0 lead on the strength of Andre Ethier's two-run homer, his second blast of the series. Ethier, who also doubled and tripled in the clincher, needed just one swing to provide enough offense for Padilla.

"Wow," Ethier said. "It's unbelievable for him to step up the way he did tonight. I think it was a little more than we asked him to do. We asked him to just give us a quality start and give us a chance to win."

Catcher Russell Martin said that he could tell from Padilla's warmups in the bullpen that he had his A Game, which he's had for most of the time since the Rangers released him and the Dodgers picked him up. Including Saturday's game, Padilla is 5-0 with a 2.72 ERA with Los Angeles.


"When he has good stuff, he's really tough to beat," Martin said. "Today he had it. He had great life on his fastball, great movement. He was really commanding the bottom part of the zone. When you do that, you are going to have a good time. He had a good time out there."

The Dodgers' victory, and Padilla's contribution to it, also came with some satisfaction for a couple of the people who most strongly endorsed the decision to bring Padilla to Los Angeles when they were asked by Colletti and Torre. Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa had managed Padilla with the Phillies, and Dodgers starter Randy Wolf was his teammate. Both said they told Colletti that Padilla would not be a problem, on the field or in the clubhouse.

"I was reading all this stuff about how bad he was in Texas, but he wasn't bad with me," Bowa said. "Joe said 'I don't want my clubhouse messed up. You think hell be alright?' I said, 'I'm telling you Joe, he'll be fine.' I said he was on time. He took the ball. That's all Joe cared about."

Wolf said: "I think he's going to be a good pickup for us. I know the kind of stuff he has and I know the kind of team we have. I don't know what happened in Texas, but I know the kind of guy he is. We would leave him alone, let him do his business. I also know that sometimes clean slates are good."

As Wolf sat in the dugout and watched Padilla mow through the Cardinals order on Saturday, he remembered the way he could dominate as a young pitcher years ago in Philadelphia. All of that came rushing back, with no thought of the bad reputation he brought from Texas.

"He threw 95 pitches, and what 85 were fastballs?" Wolf said. "He was 95-96 all game. Great movement. He can pitch in the zone. He doesn't need to punch out guys because he can throw 95 at their hands and they'll swing and hit ground balls. I was very excited for Padilla, especially for what he has gone through this year."