Dodgers crush Cardinals to sweep NL series

Andre Ethier belted a two-run homer and Vincente Padilla pitched seven shutout innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat St. Louis 5-1 to sweep their first-round playoff series.

Manny Ramirez busted out of his long slump by knocking in two runs for the Dodgers, who won the best-of-five series 3-0 and advanced to the National League championship series for the second consecutive year.

Padilla was thrown into the Dodgers starting mix after Japan's Hiroki Kuroda suffered an injury. The 32-year-old former Texas Ranger struck out four and allowed four hits with one walk.

He fashioned a 4-0 record in eight starts for the Dodgers in the regular season.

"It's the best we've seen (Padilla), in fact, the longest we've seen him," said Torre of Padilla who was making his first post-season start. "Six innings was as far as he had gone, and he was wanting to go out there in the eighth inning. I thought about it for about a tenth of a second, but that was about it."

Ramirez helped Los Angeles get out to a quick start with a double in the first inning that scored Matt Kemp and made it 1-0 in front of a crowd of 47,296 at Busch Stadium.

"I was trying to get more aggressive," Ramirez said. "Anything on the plate and I was ready for it."

Two innings later, Ethier smashed his two-out, two-run shot on a 3-1 count over the right outfield wall to give the Dodgers a three-run cushion.

"I am just going up there and staying in the moment," Ethier said. "I was looking for one pitch and I put good swing on it.

Los Angeles will start the next series at home on Thursday against either defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies or the Colorado Rockies.

The Dodgers are in search of their first championship since 1988.

"We beat a very good team, and we won the two games that (Cardinals pitchers Chris) Carpenter and (Adam) Wainwright pitched, which certainly did a lot for our personality and our confidence," said Torre. "(Ethier) is remarkable."

St. Louis was scrambling to keep their hopes alive on Saturday but they couldn't muster much scoring.

Albert Pujols had two hits in the game and finished a disappointing three-for-10 in the series with no extra-base hits and one run driven in.

The Cardinals ended their 2009 season with 11 losses in the last 13 games, including the regular season.

St. Louis pitcher Joel Pineiro failed to rally the troops, allowing four runs on seven hits. He left after the four innings.

"More than anything else, (Pineiro) had quite a few pitches he got up," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "It's a tough way for him to pitch, a lot of balls that did damage that were up, and it was just one of those things. We didn't do anything with their guys. He pitched well."

Meanwhile, snow forced the postponement of Saturday's other scheduled playoff game between Philadelphia and Colorado to Sunday, prompting a switch in pitchers for the Phillies.

Pedro Martinez, the 37-year-old veteran hurler who has not made a playoff start in five years, will be replaced by rookie left-hander J.A. Happ for the Phillies, reigning World Series champions, against the Rockies' Jason Hammel.

The National League first-round best-of-five series is level at 1-1 with games three and four now set for Denver, weather permitting, on Sunday and Monday. Game five would be Tuesday at Philadelphia if necessary.

Martinez had not made a playoff start since winning game three of the 2004 World Series for the Boston Red Sox, who then captured game four to complete a sweep and snap an 86-year title drought.

But his bid for undone by snow and record-setting cold that left conditions icy and unplayable with flurries set to continue into the night. Sunday was expected to be chilly but still twice as warm as Saturday.

Teams would be able to use their game-one starting pitchers - Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez and Philadelphia's Cliff Lee - with full rest on Monday if necessary because of the postponement.