LOS ANGELES (AP) -James Loney homered, Clayton Kershaw allowed just one hit and the Los Angeles Dodgers were leading the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 after three innings on Thursday night in Game 1 of the National League championship series.

The Dodgers, coming off a three-game sweep of St. Louis, are in the NLCS for the ninth time overall and fifth time against Philadelphia - the most any two teams have met in the LCS. The Phillies beat Los Angeles last season in five games before going on to win their second World Series title in franchise history.

Loney got his first RBI of this postseason when he drove Cole Hamels' 2-1 pitch just over the right-field fence leading off the second. It was his second career postseason homer.

Hamels last year's NLCS and World Series MVP, came in 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers. Two of the left-hander's wins came during last year's postseason, when he won both outings in the championship series.

Kershaw, who was 0-3 with a 6.64 ERA in his four previous career starts against Philadelphia, got Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez on called third strikes. He walked one batter.

The 21-year-old left-hander became the youngest pitcher to start Game 1 of a League championship series, and the third-youngest to start the opening game of any postseason series behind former Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Rick Ankiel (2000).

The Phillies, who led the majors in stolen base percentage for the third straight season, ran themselves into an out in the first when Shane Victorino was tagged out by shortstop Rafael Furcal in a rundown after Kershaw caught Victorino leading off first base.

Kershaw was 0-3 despite a 2.60 ERA and three double-digit strikeouts performances in his final 11 starts of the regular season after beating Houston on July 18 at Dodger Stadium. He also had a no-decision in Game 2 of the division series against St. Louis last Thursday in Los Angeles, giving up two runs over 6 2-3 innings before his teammates rallied for a 3-2 win.

This was the fourth time Hamels and Kershaw have started against each other and the first time since June 4 at Los Angeles.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.