Dodgers NLCS News: Don Mattingly Sticks With Ricky Nolasco, For Now

Minutes after their 3-0 NLCS Game 3 win over the Cardinals, Don Mattingly was asked about what his plans for Game 4 tomorrow night at Dodger Stadium.

Hyun-Jin Ryu picked the Dodgers up in a huge way as he tossed seven shutout innings and Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez snapped a 22 inning scoreless streak. However, Zack Greinke only made 12 pitches in a bullpen session yesterday as there were some that believed that he would start if the Dodgers were to fall into a 3-0 series hole.

When speaking to the media after the game, Mattingly revealed what the plan is right now according to Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA.com:

Ricky Nolasco is starting tomorrow “right now” per Mattingly. Heard that before

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) October 15, 2013

Acquired midseason from the Miami Marlins, Nolasco struggled down the stretch and when his turn came up in the NLDS, Mattingly and the coaching staff decided to go with Clayton Kershaw on three days rest.

Greinke hasn’t pitched much on short rest and it would compromise the Dodgers pitching staff for future games in the series. In Game 1, the Dodgers “other” ace tossed eight innings, striking out 10, but was a victim of no run support.

Meanwhile, Nolasco started his Dodger career with an impressive nine-start stretch, but finished the year 8-3 with a 3.52 ERA while donning Dodger blue.

The Dodgers also got a huge boast tonight with Hanley and Andre Ethier both returning to the lineup as they got timely hitting and stellar pitching from Ryu. It sounds like Mattingly is keeping the option open of pitching Greinke in Game 4 and possibly Kershaw in Game 5 as he’s looking to take the Dodgers back to their first World Series since 1988.

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In case you missed it, here’s the home run that sent the Dodgers to the NLCS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJgp8vkSa3k