For Dodgers, Manny changes everything

The Los Angeles Dodgers haven't commanded postseason respect for two decades. For 20 years, since Kirk Gibson's Game 1 homer and Orel Hershiser's bulldog 1988 World Series, the Dodgers haven't won a single playoff series. In fact, before Wednesday they'd won only one game in the playoffs since then, a single Division Series contest in 2004 against the Cardinals.

But with manager Joe Torre and left fielder Manny Ramirez in Dodger blue, they're writing another chapter - in both their history and in the pathetic, 100-year tale of the lovable losers on the north side of Chicago.

The Dodgers put the Cubs on the brink of elimination, winning in another laugher at Wrigley Field on Thursday night, 10-3. The Cubs, who had the home-field advantage and the best record in the National League, have been outscored 17-5 in two games and appear ready to make it an even 100 years without a championship.

The bad bews cubbie bears, as T.J. Simers wrote, have now lost eight consecutive postseason games, and Cubs manager Lou Piniella is 3-10 against Torre in playoff games in his career. No NL team has ever come back from an 0-2 deficit in the 14-year history of the Division Series round. Three have done it in the AL, and one was the 2001 Yankees, managed by you-know-who.

A three-run double by Russell Martin against Carlos Zambrano was the big blow in a five-run second inning for the Dodgers on Thursday. Chad Billingsley was solid on the mound in his first postseason start and Ramirez hit his 26th career postseason homer later in the game, and the series heads to Dodger Stadium on Saturday with Cubs fans shaking their heads, as always. The Cubs will have to win twice on the road just to bring it back to Wrigley for a Game 5.

Ramirez, for all his loafing during the regular season and "Manny being Manny" moments, is tried and true in the playoffs. And he's given the Dodgers the confidence they haven't had in a generation. Meanwhile, the Cubs appeared as tight as a drum, with the weight of the city on their shoulders.

As the Dodgers' Matt Kemp told a Cubs clubhouse attendant on the way out the door after Thursday's game, according to ESPN.com:

"See you next year."

See links to series schedules and more in Playoff Central.