Philadelphia, meanwhile, is in this round for the seventh time, but will be making its first trip since 1993 when it topped Atlanta in six games.

After getting swept in the NLDS last year by the red-hot Colorado Rockies, the NL East-champion Phillies made the most of their return, as they used some tremendous starting pitching and some timely hitting to get past the Milwaukee Brewers in four games.

Los Angeles was back in the postseason for the first time since getting swept by the Mets in the 2006 NLDS. The NL West-champion Dodgers set the tone in their matchup with the Chicago Cubs, winning the first two games at Wrigley Field on their way to a three-game sweep.

While Philadelphia scored in bunches in their series, the Dodgers put on a clinic in how to score runs in their whitewash over the Cubs. Los Angeles hit its share of home runs, four in all, but the Dodgers made Chicago pay every time it made a mistake.

Never was that more apparent than in Game 2, as four Cubs errors led to 10 Dodgers runs.

Each team won four games from one another in the season series, with each capturing a four-game sweep on their home turf.

These teams are also no stranger to one another in the postseason, having met on three other occasions. However, they have not met up in the playoffs since the Phils defeated the Dodgers, 3-1, to advance to the 1983 World Series.

Los Angeles, though, defeated the Phils the first two times these teams squared off in NLCS play.

LINEUP

If the Phillies are clicking on all cylinders there are few lineups, if any, that can produce the kind of runs they can. Unfortunately, though, the big bats of Ryan Howard and Chase Utley seem to have gone silent for the second consecutive postseason.

After going 2-for-11 in last year's sweep at the hands of the Rockies, Utley managed just two hits in 15 at-bats against the Brewers, while Howard was 2- for-11. Utley, though, had perhaps the biggest hit of Game 1, a two-run double that probably should have been caught by center fielder Mike Cameron.

Utley batted .355 with two homers against the Dodgers this year.

Shane Victorino, whose grand slam highlighted the Phillies' Game 2 win, and Jimmy Rollins, paced the offense hitting .357 and .375, respectively. Jayson Werth had a team-high 13 total bases and led the Phils with three runs scored, but also struck out six times in 16 at-bats.

The Phillies got by on some timely hitting, but still only managed to score in five of the 36 innings they played against Milwaukee. In the two games in which the Phillies did not hit a home run, they scored only four runs combined, one of which was the result of a bases loaded walk.

One player, though, that could be coming to life is left fielder Pat Burrell, who homered twice in Philly's Game 4 clincher. Burrell had been hitless in nine at-bats in the series, before his three-hit effort in the finale.

As he has been since he arrived in Los Angeles, Ramirez was the catalyst offensively for the Dodgers in their sweep of the Cubs. The 2004 World Series MVP hit .500 in the series with a pair of home runs and three RBI. Neither of his blasts were outcome changers, but Ramirez was on base the whole series, scoring five of his team's 20 runs.

The Dodgers hope Manny Ramirez can duplicate his numbers from last year's ALCS, when he hit .409 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI for the Red Sox in their seven-game win over Cleveland. He is a lifetime .319 hitter in LCS play with 10 home runs and 23 RBI in 39 games.

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