Tony DeMarco

LOS ANGELES - Joe Torre spoke on the off-day about his Los Angeles Dodgers just needing one little momentum turner in this National League Championship Series.

Well, Joe, take your pick after a Game 3, 7-2 romp at Dodger Stadium that just might have turned this thing around.

How about a game-deciding five-run bottom of the first inning?

Rafael Furcal, just 1-for-9 in the series: single.

Andre Ethier, just 4-for-18 in the postseason: single.

Manny Ramirez, red-hot with the bat and still hot about some too-tight pitches in Game 2: RBI single to establish a new LCS record with RBI in seven consecutive games.

Russell Martin, hit by pitch (more on that in a couple of paragraphs).

And after an RBI single by Casey Blake sandwiched by two called-third strikeouts, rookie Blake DeWitt's bases-clearing triple into the right-field corner.

With an out there, 45-year-old Phillies starter Jamie Moyer would have minimized the damage, and kept his team in the game. Instead, for only the second time in his 22-year big-league career, he served up a first-inning, three-run triple.

One out into the bottom of the second, Moyer was gone, marking the third-shortest start in Phillies postseason history. And if this goes to a Game 7 on Saturday, you have to think the Phillies will turn to Game 4 starter Joe Blanton on four days rest rather than Moyer on five.

So about that momentum, Mr. Torre. Do you have it back?: “I think for the moment we have. In a short series, you win a game, and you have that good feeling about yourself.

“This club has had a good personality all through the playoffs. I thought we would play well, but I certainly was pleased with the first inning. The two-out hit by Blake was the back-breaker. He was down 0-2 at one point.''

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And how about the outing by Hiroki Kuroda? It may not go down in Dodger annals as something that rivals a Sandy Koufax World Series gem, but you can't deny its importance on two fronts:

Six and two-thirds excellent innings to shackle a Phillies offense that exploded for eight runs in an easy Game 2 win. Picking up where he left off during his regular-season dominance of the Phillies, Kuroda retired 10 in a row in the middle innings, and now has limited them to a .141 average in 19 innings this season.

And arguably just as important, Kuroda retaliated where Game 2 loser Chad Billingsley wouldn't. There was a lot to be disappointed about after Game 2, but inside the Dodgers clubhouse for two days, topping the list was Billingsley not sticking up for his offensive mates.

Kuroda got that message, and with two outs and nobody on in the third, he fired a pitch up and behind Shane Victorino's head — an obvious response to Martin being hit in the first inning, and to Brett Myers' pitch in the vicinity of Ramirez's head in Game 2.

“Someone on our team was bounded to get hit,'' Victorino said. “We hit Martin, and there were a couple of close pitches the other night (Game 2). But I just said, 'if you're going to hit me, don't throw at my head. Do it somewhere else.''

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