매치업 비교 ; 피칭

Matching Up With The Cardinals : Pitching

Whenever the topic of the playoffs comes up in baseball circles, the first thing fans address is the pitching matchups. Therefore, it's only fitting that I start this set of matchup posts with the pitching staffs of each team.

On the Dodgers front, the starting rotation has been much maligned, and the bullpen has been called into question for most of the year by national media and local media alike. All of this despite the fact that the Dodgers have the best team ERA in the league. The Cardinals are on the opposite end of the spectrum, as they enter the postseason with a heavily lauded rotation and a rarely mentioned bullpen.

Hype and perception aside, the aim here is to get down to the reality of the situation, and that's exactly what I intend to do.
포스트 시즌이 시작되면 사람들은 제 1 순위로 선발 매치업을 꼽곤 한다. 다저스는 NL 팀 ERA 1위를 했음에도 불구하고 선발진은 허접하다는 소리를 듣고, 불펜은 시즌 내내 전국방송과 지역지에서 (한결같이) 불안하단 소리를 들어왔다. 이에 반해 카즈의 선발진은 찬양의 연속이며 불펜은 거의 언급되지도 않았다.

Rotation

To tackle the rotation comparison, i'm going to look at the four best starters on each team.

As many already know, the hype about the Cardinals rotation is not at all unwarranted. They have two of the three Cy Young contenders in the National League in Carpenter and Wainwright, Piniero has been a huge surprise this year, and with the inclusion of Smoltz, that group has combined for a total WAR of 17.6.
물론 카즈의 선발진이 잘한 건 사실이다. 2명의 에이스와 올시즌 잘했던 피네이로, 8월에 영입한 스몰츠까지. 네 명의 WAR(Wins Above Replacement)의 총합은 17.6이나 된다.

The Dodgers rotation is not as bad as the fans or media seem to think. While it's clear that they are inferior to the Cardinals best, the Dodgers have still accumulated a competitive total WAR of 12.6 from their best four. Wolf has been a pleasant healthy surprise and Kershaw has emerged as one of the best pitchers in the league. Unfortunately, Billingsley has had a nightmare second half in 2009 after looking like a staff ace in 2008 and the first half of this year, while Kuroda's neck injury has been a huge blow to the playoff rotation. Padilla likely represents the best remaining of a shaky back-end of the rotation, but he's still a respectable fourth option in the series.
다저스의 선발진도 팬들이나 언론에서 떠들어되는 정도로 나쁘진 않다. 네 명이 도합 12.6WAR를 기록했다. 울프는 시즌 내내 건강한 모습으로 우리를 놀라게 해줬고, 커쇼는 리그 최고의 투수로 찬양받기 시작했다. 물론, 지난 18개월동안 좋은 모습을 보이다가 악몽같던 후반기를 보낸 빌링슬리와 부상으로 포스트시즌 로스터에서 제외된 구로다도 있지만, 하위 선발에서 파디야가 그럭저럭 해줬다.

Overall, the Dodgers prove inferior in the Wolf/Carpenter and Billingsley/Piniero matchups, but the Kershaw/Wainwright and Padilla/Smoltz contests are basically tossups. It's not the complete blowout that everybody, including me, thought it was.
전체적으로 다저스의 선발이 카즈에 비해 딸리는 건 사실이지만 하위 선발진은 어떻게 해 볼만하다.

Bullpen

Next up is the all important bullpen, and to measure their respective strength, i'll take the five best relievers from both squads and compare their numbers. I suppose you could examine either four or six guys if you wanted, but I feel five is the number of relievers that should have a significant impact on the series.
다음은 불펜인데, 어쩌면 다저스의 가장 큰 강점이 아닐까 싶다. 릴리프는 대게 4~6명으로 꾸리지만 일단 5명만 선별해서 살펴보도록 하자.

The relatively unknown bullpen of the Cardinals is a lot better than I think most people would expect, me included. Franklin has had a great year, albeit a relatively lucky one, and the rest of the bullpen have held up well despite generally mediocre careers.
상대적으로 (우리에게) 잘 알려지지 않은 카즈의 불펜은 일반적으로 생각하는 수준보다는 잘해줬다. 프랭클린은 마무리에서 좋은 시즌을 보였고, 나머지 불펜요원들도 그들의 커리어를 생각한다면 아주 좋은 시즌을 보냈다.

For the Dodgers, the bullpen is the strongest part of the team, and it might be the best in the league. Broxton's skills are arguably the best of any reliever in the majors, and the 8th and 7th inning duo of Sherrill and Kuo may well be the best in the bigs as well. Belisario and Troncoso were both setup options at some point during the season, and both probably would still be on different teams, which reflects the depth of this pen.
다저스의 불펜진은 팀의 강점 중에 하나이며 리그에서 최상급이다. 논란의 소지는 아직 남아있지만 브락스턴은 빅리그 최고의 마무리 중에 하나가 되었으며, 7회와 8회에는 쿼홍치와 쉐릴이 책임지며 이 또한 최강이다. 베리사리오와 트론토소도 시즌 중에 좋은 옵션이었으며, 이 둘의 합세로 다저스의 불펜은 (타팀과는) 차원이 다른 팀이 되었다.

The skills of the Dodgers relievers outclass the Cardinals at every turn, but that difference should be expected. In fact, from the Dodgers perspective, that difference needs to exist considering the skill disparity between the rotations.
다저스의 불펜진은 모든 면에서 카즈의 불펜진보다 뛰어나지만 그건 이미 예상된 일이었고, 단지 다저스의 관점에서는 로테이션사이의 불균형을 고려해야 할 것이다.