Just making it to next week won't be enough for Dodgers

Soon, perhaps today, there will be champagne spraying from the weary fists of Dodgers division champions.

Here's hoping none of it lands on Newk.

Please, for now, keep the bubbly and beer and contentment away from the stately man in the spotless silk suit and fitted fedora.

After spending years standing on a Dodgers pitching mound and behind Dodger Stadium home plate, Don Newcombe understands Dodgers success.

And simply qualifying for the playoffs isn't quite it.

"Just making the postseason is not Dodger tradition," Newcombe said Thursday. "Getting to the World Series, winning the World Series, now that is Dodger tradition."

Lots of people have been thinking it; thank goodness that Jackie Robinson's buddy finally said it.

Winning the Western Division title with a makeshift team populated by growing kids and aching veterans and one certifiable nut is a great feat.

But it's not enough. Not here. Not now. Not if the Dodgers want to convince fans that the long-clouded sky above Chavez Ravine is once again, you know, blue.

The Dodgers cannot dance into next week, they have to march there. The Dodgers cannot be satisfied with next week, they have to want four more.

Simply making the playoffs is not enough when you haven't won a playoff series in 20 years.

When you've only won one playoff game in those 20 years.

When the winning pitcher in that game was Jose Lima.

Twenty years after Orel Hershiser's greatness, the Dodgers fans sadly cling to Lima.

Twenty years after Kirk Gibson, the Dodgers fans rest their fitful heads on Steve Finley.

During Wednesday's victory over the San Diego Padres, which combined with the Arizona Diamondbacks' loss cut the magic number to one, the loudest and most heartfelt cheers weren't for anything on the field.

Those sounds, that feeling, erupted only when the Dodger Stadium outfield video board replayed Gibson's 1988 World Series homer.

Dodgers fans threw their hands into the air with a sense not only of exultation, but longing.

They deserve to feel that way again. They deserve to cheer that way again.

Simply making the playoffs is not enough when your fans are happiest when reveling in something that is 20 years old.

This playoff berth is as transient as the other four they have earned since 1988.

Once again, they need to win at least one playoff series to make it stick.