Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies tweak rosters for LCS

Following their first-round victories the Yankees, Dodgers, and Phillies have each made a slight roster change for the LCS. New York has dropped bench bat Eric Hinske in favor of pinch-runner Freddy Guzman, which makes sense given that Hinske would rarely get the call to pinch-hit for anyone in the Yankees’ stacked lineup after batting just .242/.348/.432 this year. Guzman probably won’t see much action either, but could be used to run for Jorge Posada or Hideki Matsui if fellow speedster Brett Gardner is playing center field. Now that Chan Ho Park is recovered from his hamstring injury the Phillies have added him to the bullpen in place of Brett Myers, who isn’t very happy about being removed from the roster. Myers has had success as a reliever in the past, but he hasn’t looked good since coming off the disabled list last month and Park was outstanding before his injury, posting a 2.52 ERA and 52/16 K/BB ratio in 50 relief innings. Los Angeles bumped Jon Garland and Jeff Weaver for Hiroki Kuroda and Scott Elbert. Kuroda will start Game 3 after missing the first round with an injury and Elbert will serve as a third left-hander in the bullpen, which may come in handy against the Phillies’ lefty-heavy lineup. Weaver got the win in Game 1 of the NLDS and Garland had a 2.72 ERA in six starts down the stretch after being acquired from Arizona, but Chad Billingsley’s demotion to the bullpen made them both somewhat superfluous.