Los Angeles Dodgers (4-1) at Philadelphia Phillies (4-2), 8:07 p.m.

Sports Network | October 18, 2009

(Sports Network) - Cliff Lee tries to continue his magnificent postseason this evening, as the National League Championship Series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 between the Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park

"They've got an unbelievable lineup, which is my concern," Lee said. "Top to bottom it is pretty impressive. So you've got to limit your mistakes and work ahead in the count and mix speeds. If you do that, good things should happen."

Lee was magnificent for Philadelphia in his two starts against the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS, yielding just two earned runs in 16 1/3 innings.

Acquired at the trade deadline from Cleveland, Lee went 7-4 for the Phils with a 3.39 ERA in 12 starts.

Lee was sensational upon his arrival in Philly, surrendering just three earned runs through his initial five starts, but struggled towards the end of the regular season, losing four of his last seven decisions.

However, he has been the ace the Phillies envisioned he would be this postseason.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, will counter with Hiroki Kuroda, who was left off the NLDS roster because of a neck injury. Kuroda, though, is healthy now and went 8-7 with the Dodgers this season, but won three of his final four starts.

Kuroda has also pitched to a 0.95 ERA in three starts against the Phils and beat them in last year's NLCS.

"My confidence level is there," Kuroda said. "Physically, I'm feeling really well. And I think as I go into the game, my confidence level is going to go up. So I'm not worried about it right now."

On Friday, Los Angeles rallied for two eighth-inning runs off the Phillies bullpen, as J.A. Happ walked Andre Ethier to force in the deciding run, spoiling a vintage Pedro Martinez outing and evening this series in a 2-1 decision.

"I was really proud of the at-bat that Andre had," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He got behind in the count, the shadows made it tough to see and he laid off some tough pitches...It was obviously huge."

Martinez silenced the Dodgers' bats to just two hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out three and walking none.

But Chan Ho Park (0-1) and the much-maligned Philadelphia bullpen -- with the aid of a Chase Utley error -- couldn't hang on to a one-run lead in the eighth.

Hong-Chih Kuo (1-0) recorded the final two outs in the eighth behind a stellar start from Vicente Padilla, who allowed just one run, four hits and a walk while fanning six in 7 1/3 innings for the Dodgers.

Jonathan Broxton retired the top of the Phillies' order in the ninth to record the save.

Ryan Howard had half of Philadelphia's four hits, including a solo homer in the fourth to account for the defending World Series champions' only run.

While the clubs accounted for 22 hits in Philly's 8-6 victory in the series opener, it was the starters who shined on Friday.

Padilla, a former Phillie, retired 11 of the final 13 hitters he faced, while Martinez, who started his career with the Dodgers in 1992, was brilliant in only his second start since September 19.

The rest, coupled with the sweltering LA heat, served Philadelphia's midseason acquisition well, as he needed just 87 pitches to get through seven frames.

Regardless, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel opted to use the bullpen to start the eighth, starting with Park.

"I placed my team in a position to win. That was my main goal today," said Martinez, who pitched in the postseason for the first time since 2004. "[Manuel] said before the game he had me for 80 or 90 pitches, and I was very aware that he would make the move at that moment...After 17 days [off] I think seven innings was good enough."

This is the first NLCS rematch since Houston and St. Louis met in 2004 and '05, and only the third repeat series since Atlanta and Pittsburgh squared off in 1991 and '92.

Philadelphia, of course, needed five games to get past the Dodgers a year ago en route to its first World Series title since 1980. This will actually be the fifth time these teams are meeting in the postseason. The Phils beat LA in 1983 to advance to the World Series, while the Dodgers defeated them the first two times they met (1977-78).

Los Angeles won the season series with the Phils, 4-3, as it took two of three at Citizens Bank Park and split four games at Chavez Ravine.