(My Sportsbook) - The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies will battle for the right to represent the National League at the World Series when the best-of-seven NLCS gets underway on Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.

Los Angeles is back in the NLCS for the eighth time in team history, but this is its first time back since its classic seven-game win over the New York Mets en route to its last world championship in 1988.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is in this round for the seventh time, but is making its first trip since 1993 when it topped Atlanta in six games.

After getting swept in the NLDS last year by the red-hot Colorado Rockies, the NL East-champion Phillies made the most of their return, as they used some tremendous starting pitching and some timely hitting to get past the Milwaukee Brewers in four games.

However, the Phillies managed to get by without contributions from Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.

After going 2-for-11 last year against the Rockies, Utley managed just two hits in 15 at-bats against the Brewers, while Howard was 2-for-11. Utley, though, had perhaps the biggest hit of Game 1, a two-run double that probably should have been caught by center fielder Mike Cameron.

Utley, though, batted .355 with two homers against the Dodgers this year.

Los Angeles was back in the postseason for the first time since getting swept by the Mets in the 2006 NLDS. The NL West-champion Dodgers set the tone in their matchup with the Chicago Cubs, winning the first two games at Wrigley Field on their way to a three-game sweep.

While Philadelphia scored in bunches in their series, the Dodgers put on a clinic in how to score runs in their whitewash over the Cubs. Los Angeles hit its share of home runs, four in all, but the Dodgers made Chicago pay every time it made a mistake.

Never was that more apparent than in Game 2, as four Cubs errors led to 10 Dodgers runs.

As he has been since he arrived in Los Angeles, Ramirez was the catalyst offensively for the Dodgers in their sweep of the Cubs. The 2004 World Series MVP hit .500 in the series with a pair of home runs and three RBI. Neither of his blasts were outcome changers, but Ramirez was on base the whole series, scoring five of his team's 20 runs.

The Dodgers hope Ramirez can duplicate his numbers from last year's ALCS, when he hit .409 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI for the Red Sox in their seven-game win over Cleveland. He is a lifetime .319 hitter in LCS play with 10 home runs and 23 RBI in 39 games.

The Dodgers will send righty Derek Lowe to the hill in Game 1. Lowe was one of the best pitchers in the league down the stretch, winning six of his last seven decisions, and carried that into his Game 1 effort against the Cubs. Lowe earned the win in that one, giving up a pair of runs and seven hits in six innings.

The Phillies could face Lowe three times this series. The lefty-heavy Phillies lineup has traditionally battered right-handed pitching. However, despite Jimmy Rollins, Utley and Pat Burrell all boasting averages better than .300 against Lowe, none of them has taken him deep.

Howard, meanwhile, is just 2-for-16 lifetime against him.

Lowe beat the Phillies the last time he saw them and is 4-1 against them with a 3.02 ERA in 11 games, seven of which have been starts. He is also 2-0 in his three starts at Citizens Bank Park with a 2.25 ERA.

Getting the call for the Phils in Game 1 tonight will be lefty Cole Hamels, who put forth one of the best efforts of his young career in his Game 1 NLDS start, as he held the Brewers to just two hits over eight scoreless innings, while striking out nine with a walk.

Hamels has only faced the Dodgers twice and is 1-0 against them with a 2.57 ERA. He defeated them back on August 23, surrendering a pair of runs and five hits in seven innings.

Each team won four games from one another in the season series, with each capturing a four-game sweep on their home turf.

These teams are also no stranger to one another in the postseason, having met on three other occasions. However, they have not met up in the playoffs since the Phils defeated the Dodgers, 3-1, to advance to the 1983 World Series.

Los Angeles, though, defeated the Phils the first two times these teams squared off in NLCS play.

Unfortunately, the winner of the past three LCS matchups between these two has gone on to lose the World Series.