Dodgers bullpen might not include Saito

PHILADELPHIA -- Speaking of how suddenly everything changed for him, Takashi Saito laughed.

"I didn't expect this," he said.

Saito went into Manager Joe Torre's office Wednesday afternoon thinking he could be closing for the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. He came out of the meeting with Torre, General Manager Ned Colletti and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt thinking he wouldn't even be on the 25-man roster.

"There's probably a good chance of that happening," he said.

Torre made no promises to the 38-year-old former All-Star, asking him to throw a post-workout bullpen session at Citizens Bank Park, then asking him to wait until this morning to learn whether he'll be part of the Dodgers' plans for this round of the playoffs.

If Saito is excluded, his roster spot could go to left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo, who has recovered from elbow problems that kept him out of the division series sweep of the Chicago Cubs.

The Dodgers must submit their series roster by 10 a.m. EDT.

Saito sprained an elbow ligament in July and was sidelined for two months. Torre worked him back into the closer's role over the last two weeks of the regular season and had Honeycutt tell him on the day the playoffs started that the job was his. But he failed to get an out and gave up two runs in Game 2 of the division series.

Jonathan Broxton closed the final game of that series and Torre said he would probably use Broxton again in that role in Philadelphia.

Saito didn't blame Torre.

"I would never tell the team that I don't want to be on the roster," said Saito, who has worked on pitching exclusively out of the stretch to correct balance problems.

"The decision is theirs. If they judge that I can't help the team in this series, I'm fine with that."

Even if Saito is not on the roster for the Phillies series, he can be added to the team for the World Series if the Dodgers advance.

Kuo back for NLCS

Kuo felt no pain in his elbow while playing catch Wednesday, which was all the information Torre needed to make a decision on the left-hander's status.

"It appears we'll add him to the roster," Torre said.

Kuo threw 19 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday morning in Los Angeles and had no trouble locating his pitches, according to the coaching staff. He sat out the NL division series and last pitched Sept. 14 in Colorado, his second appearance in the last five weeks, finishing the regular season with a 2.14 earned-run average in 42 games.