SAN FRANCISCO -- Baby steps. First, a division title in the worst division, but now can the Dodgers win two playoff games for the first time in 20 years?
They haven't played anyone good in a month. And they will be playing without their opening-day pitcher, as well as maybe their starters at short and second.
So is winning a playoff series too much to ask for a team that finished only six games above .500?
While everyone else is looking for this to be a magical year for the Cubs, magic might very well be what the Dodgers need.
And with it, do they still have what it takes to beat the team with the best record in the National League? Do they have the unflinching wherewithal to knock off everyone else's sentimental favorite? Do they wilt in Wrigley?
"I know this, when I was with the Yankees, the Cubs were the only team in the postseason who could knock us out of prime time," Joe Torre said.
"So we're going to play in prime time and against a team looking to do what the Red Sox did a few years ago."
You want to be the guy to take down such a fan favorite?
"I'd just like to keep their record intact," he said.
SEVEN YEARS ago, Lou Piniella's Mariners won 116 games -- 21 more than Torre's Yankees -- but New York went to Seattle and won the first two games in their playoff matchup.
An angry Piniella, and isn't he always, said after the second loss, "I guarantee you we will be back here for Game 6."
The Mariners went on to lose two of three in New York, the series never returning to Seattle as promised.
So as history goes, we know there's no reason to believe what Piniella says, and matched against a playoff team managed by Torre, uh-oh Cubs fans, Torre has finished on top.
And he's done it twice, compiling an 8-3 record versus Piniella. Uh-oh, Cubs fans.
OBVIOUSLY I'VE been busy getting the Dodgers into the playoffs, so I haven't paid attention to our college football teams.
Took a look Sunday and noticed USC is still very much in the national championship picture. I looked but couldn't find any mention of UCLA -- even in small print, where you would think they'd belong.
NOMAR Garciaparra, who managed the Dodgers on Sunday, put it this way: "Manny Ramirez isn't playing today, so Joe Torre isn't managing today."
I WAS having coffee, and nearby scouts from the Cubs and other teams were talking about the Dodgers. I'd never eavesdrop -- unless I needed one more note for Page 2.
