Clayton Kershaw was a bit player for the Dodgers last year in the National League Championship Series, pitching two innings in relief.
Randy Wolf wasn't even a Dodger, having finished a .500 season split between the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres.
Now they enter stage left for the Dodgers in their NLCS rematch with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The left-handed starters -- along with left-handed relievers George Sherrill and Hong-Chih Kuo -- are being counted on to stifle the big left-handed bats of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez, who combined for 110 homers and 327 runs batted in during the regular season.
"They're pretty scary," Dodgers Manager Joe Torre, whose team lost in five games to the Phillies in the 2008 NLCS, said Tuesday. "I don't think you can have too many left-handers. . . . If I had a choice of lefty-righty against that part of the order, I think you go lefty."
The Dodgers, who didn't use one left-handed starter against the Phillies in last year's series, probably will do that with Wolf on Thursday evening at Dodger Stadium in Game 1. The veteran has had success against the Phillies' middle-of-the-order hitters in his career, holding Howard to one hit in nine at-bats and Utley to one hit in eight at-bats. Neither player has homered off Wolf.
But Philadelphia's lineup managed to inflict enough damage to split the two games Wolf started against the Phillies in the regular season; he gave up 11 hits and seven runs in 12 1/3 innings.
"Philly obviously has their offense, which is very strong," Wolf said after the Dodgers polished off the St. Louis Cardinals in three games in the NL division series. "We have to be ready."
Kershaw could pitch in Game 2 or Game 3, depending on how Torre decides to align his rotation if Hiroki Kuroda returns from a bulging disk in his neck that kept him out of the division series.
Kershaw has limited Howard to one hit in eight at-bats, though Utley has hit .300 with a homer in 10 at-bats against the left-hander.
The 21-year-old Kershaw struggled against Philadelphia in the regular season, going 0-2 with a 5.23 earned-run average in two starts. But he has had plenty of success against left-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .173 average.
The Dodgers' bullpen is also better equipped to face left-handed hitters than it was last season with the late-season acquisition of setup man Sherrill and the continued late-inning success of Kuo.
