Dodgers can only imagine where they would be with Lee

PHILADELPHIA -- Pennants can turn on big home runs, big errors, big calls by umpires and managers (Hiroki Kuroda? Really?), and any number of other things that so fascinate us in the cool of October.

But pennants also turn on what fascinates us in the heat of July.

Cliff Lee fascinated us then, when he was the ace starter the Phillies traded for -- and also one of the many ace starters the Dodgers didn't trade for. Cliff Lee also fascinates us now, when he might be the single biggest reason the Phillies are two victories away from a repeat trip to the World Series -- and one of the biggest reasons the Dodgers are two losses away from their 21st consecutive year without a World Series.

It's not just that Lee was great again Sunday night, with eight scoreless innings in the Phils' 11-0 Game 3 victory against the Dodgers. It's not just that Lee is playing the part Cole Hamels did for the Phillies last year -- only playing it better through three starts so far (0.74 ERA).

It's that when the Phillies got Lee from the Indians on July 29, the Dodgers were trying to get him, too. And if there were a team that needed a pitcher like Lee more than the Phillies did, it was the Dodgers.

"And that's why we tried," general manager Ned Colletti said.

The way Colletti tells it, the Dodgers tried very hard. Colletti didn't come right out and say he thought the Dodgers had offered more for Lee than the Phillies did, but he was willing to say they offered a lot.

"We offered four guys," he said. "We were choking on the third guy, and we went to the fourth [too]."

I can't tell you if the Dodgers' offer was better. I can tell you if there's one thing that would drastically change how we look at this National League Championship Series, it would be a rewrite of history that puts Lee in Dodgers blue instead of Phillies red.

Imagine the Phillies without Lee.

"Ruben's pretty smart," Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins said, referring to GM Ruben Amaro. "He'd have found somebody else."

Fine, but imagine Lee on the Dodgers' side of this NLCS.

"That side?" Rollins asked. "We just would have had to beat him."

Well, there is that. As tough and as confident as this Phillies team is, maybe it finds a way to win, anyway.

Cliff Lee looks great in Phillies red, and that makes Dodgers management feel rather blue. (AP)

Maybe Ryan Howard, who is already dominating this NLCS the way he dominated the Phillies' first-round victory against the Rockies, triples off Lee the way he tripled off Kuroda in the first inning Sunday. Maybe Jayson Werth still hits his first-inning home run, and maybe Lee is the one exiting in the second inning with the Phillies on the way to an early 6-0 lead.

Maybe, but don't you think the Dodgers would take their chances with Lee on their side?

I'll guarantee one thing: If Lee is starting for the Dodgers, you wouldn't hear them talking about him the way they talked about Kuroda before Game 3 on Sunday.

"No idea," one Dodgers person after another answered when asked how Kuroda would do. "No idea."

One game doesn't make a series, and even with the loss to Lee, the Dodgers trail this NLCS only two games to one. They could still make it into a long series, maybe even a seven-game series, which would give them another chance to see Lee up close -- in a Game 6 or 7 this weekend.

But those of us who like to look ahead can already start to wonder what Game 1 of the World Series will be like if it matches Lee with CC Sabathia, his one-time teammate with the Indians.

Meanwhile, those of you who care about the Dodgers can start to wonder what will happen next to that team's starting rotation.

Think of what has happened already.

Their Game 2 starter in last year's playoffs (Chad Billingsley) is now a mop-up man, called on Sunday when it was already 6-0. Their Game 1 starter in this year's playoffs (Randy Wolf) became the Game 4 starter in this series.

Their Game 1 starter in this series (Clayton Kershaw) is a 21-year-old kid so talented that scouts sometimes compare him to Sandy Koufax, but still so erratic that one of those scouts also compared him to Tommy Lasorda -- and not for his future as a manager.

"That's the thing," the scout said. "You don't know if he's going to be Koufax, or Lasorda."

Poll What's the biggest reason why the Phillies lead the Dodgers in the NLCS?   31%  Hitting     42%  Starting pitching     6%  Managing     21%  Confidence     Total Votes: 3085

And then there's Kuroda, who couldn't pitch in the first round because of a bulging disk in his neck. Manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt flew in to watch Kuroda in an Arizona Fall League game last Tuesday, then declared him fit enough to face the Phillies.

He didn't need to be that fit, since Torre could stand to watch him for only 39 miserable pitches.

"He just came into the game, and the ball didn't behave," Torre said, insisting there was no reason to second-guess the decision to start Kuroda.

And what did Torre think of Lee?

"What I always think of Cliff Lee," he said. "He's pretty special."

He has been special for the Phillies, from the day they got him from the Indians to Sunday night, when he and the Phillies hitters helped send Torre's Dodgers to the franchise's worst postseason defeat since Game 1 of the 1959 World Series.

"A loss is a loss," catcher Russell Martin said. "It's not like we're heartbroken or anything."

No reason to be heartbroken Sunday night. If the Dodgers had their hearts broken over Cliff Lee, it was back in July, when they wanted him so badly and couldn't get him.

"Cliff Lee was great tonight," Colletti said. "But Cliff Lee wasn't the only reason we lost this game."

No, but if the Dodgers lose two more games and lose the National League pennant, you have to believe they'll be wondering if Cliff Lee is a big part of the reason why.