Curveball

George Sherrill Wanted To Stay With O's But Now Is A Key Part Of Dodgers' Playoff Run

Baseball Playoffs

PHILADELPHIA -- George Sherrill never wanted to leave Baltimore.

That was his stance back in July, when the Orioles dealt their 32-year-old closer to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two prospects.

Ultimately, it was all out of Sherrill's control.

So he accepted the move. Learned to embrace it. Now, he ponders it philosophically.

"Everything happens for a reason, and maybe this is supposed to be my first shot at the playoffs," Sherrill said before Monday's Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. "Maybe it is supposed to be my only shot at the playoffs. You never know."

It's possible Sherrill's playoff experience lasts only one more game.

His Dodgers are down 3-1 to the Philadelphia Phillies in the best-of-seven NLCS with the potential clincher tonight at Citizens Bank Park.

Sherrill, who had been tremendous since joining the Dodgers - he was scored on in only three of his first 33 appearances - has scuffled in the NLCS.

In the eighth inning of Thursday's Game 1 in Los Angeles, he walked the first two batters he faced on 10 pitches and then served up a backbreaking three-run homer to Raul Ibanez. He hadn't allowed multiple RBIs in an inning in his two-plus months as a Dodger and hadn't yielded a homer to a left-handed hitter since surrendering one to the Pittsburgh Pirates' Adam LaRoche on June 14, 2008, while Sherrill was with the Orioles.

On Monday, in Game 4 at Philadelphia, Sherrill again struggled with his command in the eighth, yielding a walk, hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch while recording only two outs. Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton had to replace Sherrill to preserve a one-run lead and proceeded to give up a two-run, game-winning double to Jimmy Rollins in the bottom of the ninth.

"I was telling a bunch of guys, I hate doing that to [Broxton] because he has picked me up time and time again," Sherrill said after Monday's loss. "There shouldn't be an opportunity where I leave two guys out there. But it is what it is."

As he spoke, frustration simmered in his voice and fire burned in his deep-set brown eyes, producing the familiar glare that Orioles fans witnessed during his time as the club's closer.

Overall, he looks slightly different now. Once freed from the Orioles' no-facial-hair policy, Sherrill grew a thick goatee and, in the past two weeks, has added a "playoff beard." But the competitiveness and intensity that pushed him from undrafted free agent and independent league player to All-Star closer still percolates, even if he's no longer the bullpen's go-to reliever.