A day after the Dodgers were eliminated from the NLCS, owner Frank McCourt fired Jamie McCourt, his CEO and his wife.

From ESPN.com:

Attorney Dennis Wasser said his client learned she was no longer employed by the Dodgers, who ended their season Wednesday after being bounced in the NLCS by the Philadelphia Phillies for the second straight year.

Last week the couple confirmed in a terse statement that they have separated. Jamie McCourt sat in the first row of the owner’s box for Game 1 of the NLCS. Her husband was in the third row next to former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda.
The McCourts have been married since 1979 and have four grown sons.

In March, Frank McCourt promoted his wife to chief executive officer of the team he gained ownership of in January 2004 after moving from his native Boston. The promotion made her the highest-ranking woman in Major League Baseball.

Good thing they’re separated or else this would have made for a couple of awkward moments around the dinner table.

“Uh honey, can you pass me the peas?”

“Go to hell.”

“That’s okay honey, I’ll get them myself.”

The Philadelphia Phillies will have the opportunity to defend their World Series title.

Jayson Werth powered the Phils past the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night by hitting two of the club’s four home runs in a 10-4 victory. Pedro Feliz and Shane Victorino also homered for Philly, as they easily disposed of L.A. in five games.

The Phillies’ offense shined in the NLCS, racking up 35 runs in seven games. Thus far, Werth has five dingers in the postseason, while Victorino has three. Philadelphia will now await the winner of the Yankees-Angels series to see who will oppose them in the World Series.

A potential Phillies-Yankees matchup would be entertaining considering how well both clubs are hitting the ball right now. Watching CC Sabathia take on Werth, Victorino, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley would be incredibly fun to watch and should draw decent ratings given how big of a market the Yankees play in.

It’s amazing how the Phillies were overlooked before the season. While everyone talked about the Mets, Dodgers and Cubs, the Phillies flew under the radar for the most part and then once again took care of business once the series started.

The Dodgers must be praying they never have to face the Phillies after these last two years.

Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez hit three-run homers as the Phillies beat the Dodgers 8-6 in Game 1 of the NLCS on Thursday. Ryan Howard also hit a two-run double and closer Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless ninth to protect a two-run lead.

Since the NLCS moved to a seven-game format in 1985, the team that takes a 1-0 lead has won 16 of 23 series, including 14 of the previous 16. In fact, eight of the 10 National League teams that took a 1-0 lead on the road have reached the World Series, including the past seven times.

Usually teams in the playoffs look to, at the very least, earn a split when they’re on the road. For Philadelphia to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the NLCS is huge, especially considering how good their bats looked.

Game 2 is set for 4:07 p.m. ET on Friday and will feature Pedro Martinez vs. Vicente Padilla. It’s kind of amazing that Martinez is back pitching in a championship series again and hopefully for the Phils’ sake, he produces some of the magic that made him a lights out pitcher in Boston.

T.J. Simers, L.A. Times: This is why [Torre] gave it another run after a disappointing finish in New York, why he travels from city to city, 162 games in 180 days at age 69, still amazed at what young people can do when given the opportunity and a little direction. “Different contributions,” he says, and he says it over and over as he shakes off the champagne chill, the reward for sweeping the Cardinals in the NL division series. He’s still talking about Casey Blake’s amazing at-bat in Game 2, Manny Ramirez coming up huge with two out not once but twice in Game 3, “this amazing kid here” in Andre Ethier, and Vicente Padilla living up to the faith Torre has put in him.

Joe Strauss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “I don’t like the stigma attached to being swept — but that’s what happened,” La Russa said upon exiting his office more than an hour after the loss. “The series was more competitive than that. But that’s what it is.” The Dodgers, who finished with the league’s top record but lost five of seven to the Cardinals during the season, emerged after handing Chris Carpenter his roughest start of the season in Game 1 and then exploiting left fielder Matt Holliday’s ninth-inning error in Game 2. Saturday’s win was more thorough, as they jumped Cardinals starter Joel Piñeiro for four early runs and never offered an opening to a struggling offense.”They came out on fire, and we didn’t,” Piñeiro said. The sweep concluded a stretch in which the Cardinals lost 11 of their last 13 while futilely searching for an offensive spark.

On Saturday night, it took three things for the Dodgers to beat the Rockies and finally clinch the NL West. 1) A spectacular pitching performance from the 21 year-old Clayton Kershaw, who threw six scoreless innings on 10 strikeouts and three hits. 2) Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa’s groin injury in the fourth. De La Rosa pitched three hitless innings before the Rockies middle relief came in and struggled. 3) The seventh-inning rally from the Dodgers. After hits from Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard, Mark Loretta, Juan Pierre, and Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers had scored five, breaking the game wide open.

The Dodgers unleashed their pent-up frustration in a five-run seventh inning that matched their entire offensive output from the previous five days, the five-hit, two-walk outburst lifting them to a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night that secured their second title in a row.

For the last six days, the magic number for the Dodgers to win the division was at one.

The Dodgers lost five consecutive games over that span. The Rockies won six.

Ending the game was closer Jonathan Broxton, who had a chance to seal the division title in Pittsburgh six days ago, only to blow a three-run lead.

“In Pittsburgh, it didn’t go the way I wanted,” Broxton said. “It felt like a while to get here. The champagne traveled a lot. It probably has more miles on it than any other champagne.”

Obviously, the Dodgers hardly “clinched” anything. That word implies an interim of relaxation. The Yankees “clinched” their division and secured home field advantage some time ago. It took 161 games for the Dodgers to solidify their role in the playoffs. While they finish the season with the National League’s best record, the Dodgers are by no means its hottest team. Until last night, they had lost five straight. Fortunately for them, the Cardinals (their NLDS opponents) and the Phillies are both in similar skids. The Rockies, however, are tearing it up, winning six of their last seven.

Hats off to Rockies manager Jim Tracy, who took over midseason and completely turned this team around. The Rockies are thriving off the same type of momentum that took them from the wild card spot to the World Series in 2007.

Despite the Dodgers recent struggles, they did have to overcome a fair amount of obstacles, including Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension, Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin’s hitting woes, Hiroki Kuroda’s various injuries, and Chad Billingsley’s second-half meltdown. Really, it came down to Ned Colletti’s preseason and midseason acquisitions. Orlando Hudson, Randy Wolf, George Sherrill, Ronnie Belliard, Vicente Padilla, and Jon Garland turned it on when it mattered most. Notice how I didn’t mention the Twenty Million Dollar Man. Devotion transcends past drug use out here in L.A. and Manny Ramirez has received a season-long pass. Who knows if his bat will come alive in the playoffs. Nevertheless, it won’t matter. The best teams are going to advance, and that’s the end of it.

We are barreling toward the playoffs, which begin next week. But some of the races are not determined officially yet…namely, the Rockies have clinched a playoff berth but still have a shot at the division title. The Twins are hanging tough, having fended off elimination one more day. Other than that, the races are decided. Here are the final power rankings for the regular season…..

1. New York Yankees (102-58)—Absolutely no signs of slowing down, and that’s probably a good thing with the playoffs looming.

2. Los Angeles Angels (95-65)—Will this be the year the Angels finally break their playoff curse against the Red Sox?

3. Los Angeles Dodgers (93-67)—These guys have been playing mediocre ball since Manny came back, and now they are in danger of blowing the division lead.

4. Boston Red Sox (93-67)—The Sox seem to be able to beat up on everyone except the Yankees. And that could prove to be a problem in the next two weeks.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (92-68)—No matter who the closer is, this team has to like its chances with Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels going 1-2 in a short series.

6. St. Louis Cardinals (91-69)—Sometimes coasting to the division title makes a team complacent, and winning 4 of 10 games is complacent. Plus, the NL matchups are yet to be determined, so the Cards don’t know who their first opponent will be.

7. Colorado Rockies (92-68)—You don’t get as hot as the Rockies, who are 74-40 since Jim Tracy took over as manager. I mean, are you kidding me? I’d be really worried if I were any other team these guys might face in the postseason.

8. Detroit Tigers (85-75)—They’ve been in first place just about since day one, but the feisty Twins are making live miserable. Still, the Tigers have had to fight and that could give them momentum against the Yankees. Well, if they hang on to win the division.

9. Minnesota Twins (84-76)—They earn a spot here because they are still in the race.

10. San Francisco Giants (87-73)—Lots of promise this season, but couldn’t fend off a white hot Rockies team in the end.

With their 9-2 victory over the Brewers on Thursday, the Rockies clinched the NL Wild Card, eliminating the Braves. Aaron Cook pitched eight innings of one-run ball in the win.

Manager Jim Tracy actually has an interesting dilemma on his hands, because Colorado could still win the NL West. With the Dodgers losing four straight and only four of their last 10, the Rockies are only two games behind L.A. The two teams will start a three-game series today.

With a playoff berth already locked up, do the Rockies rest their starters and get ready for the postseason or does Tracy manage to win the division? Depending on how the Cardinals and Phillies finish up, Colorado could wind up having the best record in the NL with a sweep over the Dodgers this weekend. And that would be quite a feat considering at one point they were 20-32 and fired their manager.

It’ll be interesting to see how Tracy manages over the weekend. I would have to imagine that if a division title is in range for a club, they’d go for that. But the Rockies would have to sweep in order to win the West.

There are only eight days left in the regular season, barring any one-game playoffs, and aside from the AL Central, most races are all but over. The Red Sox have a chance to make up ground on the Yankees, but the Yanks have already clinched a playoff berth. Here are your power rankings this week….

1. New York Yankees (98-56)—If they sweep the Sox this weekend, the AL East race will officially be over. But both teams appear certainly headed to the big dance.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (92-62)—Quietly moving up and close to clinching the NL West while their cross-town pals are struggling.

3. Boston Red Sox (91-62)—This team has got to be making the Yankees and their fans nervous, even if the Yanks have made the playoffs, because they just keep winning. But, see #1.

4. Los Angeles Angels (90-63)—It’s a good thing the Rangers are playing like crap, otherwise the Angels would be looking in the rear view mirror.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (89-64)—Getting hot as the weather cools down.

6. St. Louis Cardinals (89-65)—The magic number still at one.

7. Colorado Rockies (87-67)—Some days the Rockies look like they might catch the Dodgers, but lately they are trying to fend off the Braves and Giants for that wild card.

8. Detroit Tigers (82-71)—The Twins remain 2 games back, and the Tigers have not exactly set the world on fire the past month.

9. Atlanta Braves (83-70)—Bobby Cox’s teams never quit and they are hanging tough in the wild card race.

10. San Francisco Giants (82-72)—Now the clock is really ticking. The Cubs, of all teams, hurt the Giants’ chances badly again last night.

The MLB regular season will conclude in the next two weeks and we have a pretty good idea which teams are going to make the playoffs. Barring any hot streaks or horrific droughts, the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Rockies should all advance. (Perhaps the Twins will make a run if Michael Cuddyer keeps hitting like Babe Ruth.) While all these teams have the bats, ask any manager and they’ll tell you that it’s their rotation that wins a series.

Neither of these clubs currently have a perfect starting four, but it’s the Dodgers that should be freaking out. After posting the best record in the National League for almost the entire season, Chad Billingsley has been demoted to the bullpen, Clayton Kershaw has a shoulder injury (non-pitching), and Hiroki Kuroda is trying to right himself after taking a line drive to the skull last month.

The most consistent teams in the regular season — the ones with good records and rested bullpens — tend to have three or four pitchers with at least 30 starts.

When the season ends in 14 days, the Dodgers may have only two.

This month, the mix-and-match Dodgers have relied heavily on two starters, Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla, who arrived after the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. And the key starters Colletti mentioned have missed at least one start apiece in recent weeks: Wolf, Kuroda and Kershaw because of injuries; Billingsley because of inconsistent performance and waning confidence.

Twelve pitchers have started three or more games for the Dodgers this season. Twelve. That’s a statistic one would expect from an also-ran, not a near-certain playoff team. But Padilla and Garland have performed beyond expectations, with a 6-0 record and 2.65 ERA over nine combined starts through Saturday.

The Dodgers are very fortunate to have landed Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland. Though both were having mediocre seasons on their prior teams, they are shining with the Boys in Blue and may very will be the key to the Dodgers’ postseason success. Fans were initially skeptical about former Giants Assistant GM Ned Colletti coming aboard, but he’s proven to be the savviest general manager the Dodgers have had in years. As far as pitching is concerned, Colletti picked up George Sherrill, Padilla, and Garland late into the season — all have been solid. And who would have expected Randy Wolf to evolve into the team’s ace? Wolf, who previously played for the Dodgers in 2007, had his best season with the Phillies in ‘03, then struggled to regain his prowess. Still, Colletti must have seen something in Wolf this past offseason because, with a 10-6 record and 3.24 ERA, he’s surprising everyone. Expect Wolf to start the first game of the NLDS. After that, it’s anybody’s guess who the Dodgers will look to.