Alexa Maria Surholt / Sarah Marquardt » Ramirez doesnt get hit

The Colorado Avalanche were the biggest surprise of the NHLs regular season. The Central Division champions now hope to carry their shocking success into the playoffs, as the Avalanche welcome the Minnesota Wild to Pepsi Center for Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. Watch the game live on TSN and TSN GO at 9:30pm et/6:30pm pt. Colorado not only made the playoffs for the first time since 2010, the club also earned its first division title since 2002-03. Winning the Central was no small feat, as the Avs finished ahead of an excellent St. Louis Blues team and also the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Avs figured to be a team on the upswing after landing talented center Nathan MacKinnon with the top overall pick of the 2013 draft and hiring former goaltender great Patrick Roy as their head coach. But an outstanding season by netminder Semyon Varlamov expedited the process and his Vezina Trophy-worthy season -- as well as a late collapse by the Blues -- helped the Avs take the division, setting up this first-round matchup against the Wild, who claimed the first of the Wests two wild card spots. Varlamov led the NHL with 41 victories, breaking Roys single-season franchise mark set in 2000-01. He also surpassed his head coach for the most home victories by an Avalanche goaltender in a season with 24. All will be for naught though if Varlamovs postseason debut with Colorado goes sour. He has not played a playoff game since 2010 with the Washington Capitals and in 19 total games of postseason experience, the Russian is 10-9 with a 2.49 goals against average and .915 save percentage. There may be some additional pressure on Varlamov and the defense as forward Matt Duchene may miss the entire series with a bruised knee suffered on March 29. Duchene still led the Avs with 47 assists and 70 points, but Colorado did manage to go 5-1-2 down the stretch without him. The Avalanche snapped a three-year playoff drought by matching a franchise record with 52 victories and setting another mark with 26 road wins. Their 112 points were good for second-most in the clubs single-season history. Minnesota is in the playoffs for the second straight season, making the club 2-for-2 in postseason appearances since it broke the bank to sign both forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter in the summer of 2012. The Wild snapped a four-year postseason drought by earning the eighth seed a season ago, only to fall in five games to the Chicago Blackhawks. This season, Minnesota racked up impressive totals of 43 wins and 98 points -- a 17-point improvement from the full 2011-12 campaign. The usual suspects came through as Jason Pominville, Parise, Mikko Koivu and Suter were Minnesotas top four scorers. The Wild had four goaltenders make at least 10 starts this season, but Ilya Bryzgalov is the No. 1 option heading into the playoffs. Bryzgalov was acquired from Edmonton at the trade deadline and the Russian veteran went 7-1-3 with a 2.12 goals against average and .911 save percentage in 12 games with Minnesota. Bryzgalov has appeared in 38 postseason games, though his numbers arent great. He is 17-19 with a 2.81 GAA and .908 save percentage. The Avalanche got a point in all five of their meetings with the Wild this season, going 4-0-1. Varlamov was 3-0-1 with a 2.16 GAA in four games, while Bryzgalov did not face the Avalanche since joining the Wild. The Russian has, however, won all four of his previous playoff games against them, posting a 0.94 GAA and two shutouts while with the Anaheim Ducks back in 2006. This is the third all-time playoff meeting between the clubs. The Wild won a 2003 conference quarterfinals matchup in seven games, while the Avalanche knocked off Minnesota in six games during the same round in 2008. Colorado also will host Game 2 of this best-of-seven series on Saturday. The Avs were 26-11-4 on home ice in 2013-14, while Minnesota was just 17-17-7 on the road. Jeff Bagwell Jersey . - Rookie Tesho Akindele scored three goals and Fabian Castillo added two in FC Dallas 5-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night. Jeff Kent Astros Jersey . Among the teams moves was trading one of the teams two third round picks, no. 83 overall, to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Bollig, a six-foot-two, 223-pound left-winger who had seven goals, seven assists, and 92 penalty minutes in 82 games last season. https://www.cheapastros.com/393o-luis-go...-astros.html.ca. Kerry, In the first period of Saturdays Montreal-Ottawa game, Brendan Gallagher is called for goaltender interference. Craig Anderson is outside the blue paint trying to make the save. Jose Urquidy Astros Jersey . Not sure yet. #livetweetingthegreatuntangle — Strombone (@strombone1) April 17, 2014 Stage three, coping: I feel like I could use a cigarette or something. Lance Mccullers Jr. Jersey . Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds made his longshot request of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld Bonds conviction in September.Major League Baseball should be grinning from ear-to-ear for having two of the finest pitchers the National League has to offer squaring off this postseason. National League Cy Young Award and MVP candidate Clayton Kershaw used his left arm to power the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the playoffs with a remarkable regular season and was one of the hottest topics of discussion every time he took the mound. He won an MLB-best and career high-tying 21 games (21-3), led the majors with a 1.77 earned run average for a fourth straight year and held opposing hitters to a .196 average. Every five days Kershaw brought his A-game and the NL West-champion Dodgers need that to continue when they clash with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series. The Cardinals defeated the Dodgers in six games in last years NLCS, but lost to the Boston Red Sox in six games in the World Series. The Cardinals, winners of the Central Division, will roll out an ace of their own in Adam Wainwright. Wainwright won 20 games (20-9) for the second time in his career and was fifth with a 2.38 ERA over 227.0 innings pitched. Opponents batted .222 against Wainwright, who is making sure he handles his own business and is not focused on the matchup with Kershaw in Game One. Im only facing him maybe three times in the game, Wainwright said. Im facing those Dodgers hitters. I cant worry about what hes going to do or what his job is on the mound. I have to go out there and get outs. Thats what I have to do. Wainwright was the NLs Pitcher of the Month for September and the Cardinals went 17-9 in that stretch en route to a fourth straight postseason appearance and a second straight division crown. Manager Mike Matheny has been fortunate to have talent around him and always seems to have his players hungry when its crunch time. With a few hiccups in June and July, the Cardinals put it together over the final two months. Weve been playing (like its the) playoffs since August, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina said on the teams website. We know what this is about and were ready for it. Matt Holliday, Matt Adams and newcomer Jhonny Peralta were the offensive leaders, while Molina and several others played at the steady pace this organization is used to. The Cardinals batted .253 as a team and compiled a .320 on-base percentage. Los Angeles has a more threatening lineup in this NLDS and was first in OBP (.333), third with a .265 batting average and sixth in runs scored (718). Dodgers manager Don Mattingly went through peaks and valleys with his lineup, but it finally came together for a second a straight division title. The Dodgers are in the postseason mix for the sixth time since 2004 and took advantage of San Franciscos struggles to reach the top of the NL West. The Dodgers dragged at times this summer and didnt get rolling until late July. The key was staying healthy and its a different story this October. Outfielder Matt Kemp is on fire heading into the postseason and is happy to participate after missing out on the events last fall. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez had his usual myriad of injuries, but is ready to go in a rematch with the Cardinals. Well, I think you have to look at it like were a healthier team, Mattingly said. Last year, we made the playoffs without Matt. Andre (Ethier) was basically, we were trying to nurse him into where he could play. He had that stress fracture and he was trying to play, and then Hanley (Ramirez) gets hit the first game, and its not the same. We went in a little beat up, and we lose Hanley, and thats three pretty big bats out of your lineup. Well, the big bats are back and Kemp is at the top. Recently named NL Player of the Month, Kemp completed the seasons final month with seven multi-hit performances and reached the 20-homer plateau for the fifth time in his career. He led the majors with nine home runs and tied teammate Adrian Gonzalez with 25 RBI, while also hitting .322 with a .347 OBP and a .700 slugging percentage. Awards are always nice, but for me, its bigger than that, Kemp said. You dont really play this game for awards. The awards are nice, and you get rewarded for things that youve done. But the main reward is health, and I think at the end, the award that everybody wants is a World Series. The Cardinals denied the Dodgers of achieving that goal around this time last year and even beat Kershaw twice. Kershaw went 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals this season for Los Angeles, which was 4-3 in the season series. LA won three of four at Dodger Stadium in late June. St. Louis and Los Angeles have met four times in the playoffs (1985, 2004, 2009, 2013) and the Dodgers won only one series, sweeping the Cards in three games in the 2009 Division Series. Below we take a look at three keys for each team to move on. ST. LOUIS 1. CARDINALS MUST PRODUCE AGAINST TOUGH PITCHING The Cardinals didnt produce astronomical numbers over a 162-game schedule and finished tied for 23rd in runs scored with 619. It didnt matter, though, because they were 32-23 in one-run games and won a franchise-best five games this season when registering four hits or fewer. St. Louis had 11 wins with five hits or fewer. St. Louis scored two runs or fewer seven times in the last 12 games of the regular season. It was outscored, 17-4, in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium from June 26-29, then had a 10-8 advantage in scoring during a three- game series at Busch Stadium from July 18-20. With a daunting task of facing Kershaw possibly twice and both Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu, its important to get runners on base early because it will be difficult to do when these pitchers settle in. Adams can distribute the power with Peralta and Holliday, while Matt Carpenter leading off has a huge chore. Bringing in Peralta was a wise decision and he enjoyed one if his best years. The Cardinals rallied when Molina was lost for several weeks with a thumb issue and are glad to have him back working with the pitching staff. His offensive numbers may have dipped, but the Cards are right where they want to be. Maybe the postseason will wake up Molinas bat because he is quite familiar with playoff baseball and whats at stake. 2. ROTATION, BULLPEN SHOULD BE USED WISELY Matheny doesnt have to do much with Wainwright. Its the other choices with the pitching staff he has to be logical with. Wainwright has been resting nicely because he was scratched from Sundays start at Arizona after Pittsburgh lost to Cincinnati earlier in the day.dddddddddddd The Pirates loss sealed the Central for the Cards. Wainwright has won his last five starts with a 1.38 ERA in that time and lost his only start against the Dodgers this season, charged with only a run and five hits in eight innings of a 1-0 loss on June 26 out west. In 14 career games (11 starts) against LA, Wainwright is 4-5 with a 2.90 ERA. He has made seven career appearances, six of which have been starts, against the Dodgers and is only 1-3 with a 4.30 ERA. The playoffs are a time for the best players to shine and the Cardinals are counting on Wainwright to give them a series advantage even if Kershaw was the best in the Senior Circuit. The one better known as Waino is riding a 21-innings scoreless streak. The Cardinals have Lance Lynn (15-10, 2.74 ERA), Shelby Miller (10-9, 3.74 ERA), John Lackey (3-3, 4.30 ERA) and Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.20 ERA) available to pitch this series and perhaps one or two of them will come out of the bullpen. Lackey was acquired from Boston before the non-waiver trade deadline and showed flashes of brilliance in his time with the Cards. He does have plenty of playoff experience. Justin Masterson was another arm St. Louis acquired during the summer and the former Indian will most likely be used in relief. Matheny will try to avoid taxing his bullpen and aims to get the most out of his starters. who are good for at least six to seven innings per start. Relievers Seth Maness, Trevor Rosenthal and Pat Neshek all appeared in more than 70 games, with Rosenthal posting a career-high 45 saves. The 45 saves were fourth in the majors for Rosenthal, who gives the Cards a great chance of winning when he throws. St. Louis posted an MLB-leading 23 shutouts this season. 3. CARDS HAVE TO GET IT TOGETHER ON THE ROAD St. Louis went 39-42 away from Busch Stadium and have to find a way to win at least once on the west coast. The Cardinals played 10 road series following All-Star festivities and won just three of them, taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs, three of four against the Milwaukee Brewers and two of three meetings with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Theres no doubt Chavez Ravine is a tough place to play, especially during the playoffs. Dodgers management shelled out a lot of dough for what they have on the field and the club is expected to win in front of the home crowd. But the Cardinals know that in order to move on to another NLCS they have to find the resources to win on the road. LOS ANGELES 1. DODGERS HAVE MUSCLES TO FLEX IN LINEUP First, theres Kemp, then Yasiel Puig and Ramirez. Dont forget about Gonzalez, too, in the Dodgers vaunted lineup that cannot afford to go through a lull this postseason and rely just on Kershaw or any other arm. The Dodgers hammered St. Louis pitching in a four-game series earlier this summer and enter the playoffs on a roll. They went 17-8 in September and ripped off five straight wins to close the regular season. Los Angeles scored four or more runs 20 times last month and led the majors in OBP for the first time since the club re-located from Brooklyn. Because of Kemp, Puig, Ramirez and Gonzalez, the Dodgers were on fire in September and ranked among the best in runs scored, hits, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Puig went through some struggles at the plate this season and Mattingly handled the situation well. Gonzalez led the club in home runs (27) and the majors in RBI (116), and is one of LAs biggest acquisitions the past few years. We re-energized the franchise with major trades and went hard on free agents, knowing it had a chance to rejuvenate the group and get us back to a good competitive spot, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. Knowing that player development needs to be the lifeblood of your organization, we were going to try to do two things at the same time -- win and develop. Other key contributors are the speedy Dee Gordon, who has been cleared to play after a hip injury and led the majors in stolen bases (64), triples (12) and infield hits (62), Carl Crawford, Juan Uribe and Scott Van Slyke. 2. AFTER KERSHAW AND GREINKE, THERE ARE CHOICES TO BE MADE Everybody knows how awesome Kershaws season was. The Dodgers are counting on that to continue for the next few weeks from Kershaw. The lefty struck out 239 batters and has reached the 200-K mark in each of the last five years. Kershaw knows he let the Dodgers down in last years postseason. Greinke will follow Kershaw in Game Two and went 17-8 with a 2.71 ERA. The 17 wins were a career high for Greinke, who enters the postseason 5-0 in his last eight trips to the mound and a 10-2 mark at home. He has faced St. Louis 14 times (12 starts) in his career and is 9-4 with a 3.17 ERA. Greinke went 1-1 in two starts against the Cardinals this season. Ive faced them a bunch and I know theyre really good, but I havent seen them the past two months, Greinke said. I know theyve been swinging the bats since the All-Star break really well. The lineup is dangerous. You would expect Ryu would get the nod for Game Three, but he only appeared in two games last month because of a balky shoulder. He threw a simulated game on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium and is LAs best option after Kershaw and Greinke. Ryu, who also missed time with a glute strain, went 14-7 with a 3.38 ERA in his second Major League season. Starters Dan Haren and Roberto Hernandez will most likely work out of the bullpen for the Dodgers relief staff that featured five players with more than 60 appearances. Closer Kenley Jansen posted 44 saves in a team high-tying 68 games. J.P. Howell also pitched in 68 games. Brandon League, Jamey Wright and Brian Wilson were the other 60-game contributors. 3. STAY OUT OF THE TRAINERS ROOM The Dodgers were hobbled like James Caan in Misery last postseason and now are hoping a full deck will lead them to revenge over the Cardinals. Kemps back swinging for the fences, Gordons hip is healthy for the top of the order and Ethier doesnt have a balky leg to nurse. And as long as Ramirez doesnt get hit by a pitch like he did last postseason and continued contributions from Crawford and others, the Dodgers will be playing deep into October. I dont know about preparation, but were better, Gonzalez said. Kemps in the lineup, Carls in, weve got our whole outfield healthy, weve got Hanley healthy. We basically have our whole team healthy, and it looks like well be able to pitch. I think going into it healthy is a big factor. ' ' '