"Depending on the vantage point, one could regard the choice of Edinson Volquez as the Reds starter in today's Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park as inspired, uninspired, calculated or just plain dumb.

But who can possibly know how it might turn out until the game is well under way? Fact is, Reds manager Dusty Baker could have made an equally good, and perhaps even better, case for left-hander Travis Wood or the well-seasoned Bronson Arroyo.

What Baker has done is give his team the equivalent of a puncher's chance by choosing Volquez (4-3, 4.31 ERA) to go head-to-head with Phillies' ace Roy Halladay (20-10, 2.44 ERA) in the opener.

If things go according to the chalk beginning at 5:07 p.m. Halladay doesn't figure to give up more than a couple of runs to the Reds.

So who has the best chance of giving up only one to such an experienced, dangerous, Phillies' lineup? Maybe it's Volquez, who's particularly tough on left-handed hitters. Then, if you're Baker, follow him with the left-handed Murderers' Row in the bullpen: Wood, Bill Bray, Arthur Rhodes and Aroldis Chapman.

Phillies' switch-hitting center fielder Shane Victorino hasn't devoted a second of time trying to figure out why the Reds' brain trust chose Volquez to open the series. But Victorino already has worn out the video machine watching Volquez's starts this season.

"Does that changeup make him tough to hit?" Victorino asked rhetorically. "Yeah, when he's on and he's got everything working, anybody's tough - but especially with that kind of stuff."

Volquez could have an edge because the Phillies haven't seen the new version of him, the one after he had ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow.

Victorino said Volquez's changeup gives Phillies hitters the greatest pause - literally.

"It's like facing a guy like Cole Hamels (the Phillies' Game 3 starter)," Victorino said. "Guy's out there throwing 93, 94, 95 miles an hour, and then he comes in with an 84 mile-an-hour changeup that has the same depth as a fastball. It's not like a curveball where you can see the angle of the ball as it leaves his hand."

Baker said that Volquez is "pitching as well as anybody" the Reds have and that he gets left-handers out better than anybody except for Wood, who doesn't have Volquez's experience.

"Plus he's very calm and cool and (a) good-time Charlie that should be (unaffected) by the pressure," Baker said. "Especially the fact that he (has) pitched some championship games in winter ball in the Dominican."