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Is it possible that there were other heroes more important than James Loney, Russ Martin, Blake DeWitt, Casey Blake, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Corey Wade or Jon Broxton?  The heroes were obvious, but there is a story behind the story.  It turns out that the Dodgers had “spies” following the Cubs for a couple of weeks.  The reports generated by these spies may have well been the difference in the series.   Tony Jackson reports:

“There are two unsung heroes in all this, and they are (special assistants) Toney Howell and Vance Lovelace,” Colletti said in the clubhouse as champagne sprayed in all directions around him. “They were (advance scouting) those guys (the Cubs), and they did a wonderful job learning them and finding out everything about them. Toney was on them for a couple of weeks, and Vance was there for eight or nine days. They brought that information to the coaching staff and the manager, and they executed it to a T. Toney and Vance have a love and a passion for it, and they apply that day in and day out.

“I hated to say goodbye to Toney and Vance, but they have moved on to watch a couple of other clubs now.”

It’s good to see the Dodgers be so proactive in scouting other teams.  In the past years, I think we were lax in the advance scouting area.  It is a real possibility that we knew so much about the Cubs through advance scouting that we were much more prepared and that was the difference. Hopefully, this is a lesson learned and one that the Dodgers will practice even more in the future.  By the way, were Howell and Lovelace scouting the Phils?  Do the Dodger’s Have a Date With Destiny?  Scott Miller of CBS Sports has his take.