Baseball Championships

For the first time in two decades, the Dodgers popped champagne corks in October. With a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of their National League division series Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the team that had the league's best record in the regular season and won their first playoff series since claiming the 1988 World Series. In front of 56,000 towel-waving fans who chanted "Sweep! Sweep!"

BOSTON -- Even had they allowed themselves to dream, the Red Sox never would have dared to think they could come back to Boston just a victory away from winning the American League division series. Yet that's exactly where they find themselves heading into tonight's game at Fenway Park, where the Angels have won only once in the postseason -- and that win came 22 years ago. "We had talked about, 'Let's at least get a split [in Anaheim].

For the first two games of the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers will head back to Philadelphia, the site of a four-game sweep by the Phillies in late August that started a season-long eight-game losing streak for the Dodgers. But memories of Philadelphia don't necessarily elicit negative emotions for the Dodgers, who were outscored 27-5 by the Phillies in that series.

Joe Beimel was sitting at a table in the middle of the visitors' clubhouse at Chicago on the eve of the Dodgers' first playoff game this year when Ned Colletti took a seat across from him. "How are you doing today?" the Dodgers general manager said. "Doing fine," Beimel said. "See," Colletti said, "we're off to a better start already." They laughed.

The playoff series between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant comes 25 years after the teams last met in postseason play. But from 1977 to 1983, the clubs faced off three times in the NL Championship Series, when it was a best-of-five playoff instead of the current best of seven. The Dodgers beat the Phillies to win the pennant in 1977 and again in 1978. But the Phillies prevailed when the teams met in 1983. All three series were decided in four games.

PHILADELPHIA -- Aristotle believed patience to be a virtue. Ryan Howard disagrees. And Aristotle might have too, had he, like Howard, led the National League in intentional walks through his first three full seasons. "Baseball's the only game where you can completely take a person out of the outcome of the game," said Howard, who has spent many plate appearances standing in the batter's box watching the opposing pitcher play catch.

PHILADELPHIA -- The National League Championship Series doesn't start until this evening, but Dodgers Manager Joe Torre has already made it clear that he'll be making some changes. Hong-Chih Kuo, who missed the Dodgers' division series sweep of the Chicago Cubs because of elbow problems, will be on the roster to face the Philadelphia Phillies in this round. The Dodgers' other two left-handers, Clayton Kershaw and Joe Beimel, will probably pitch. Kershaw could even start.

PHILADELPHIA -- He has had more nationally televised face time in three days of baseball than in his previous 25 years of life. Cory Wade laughs. "It's actually easier now than when nobody was watching," he said. The Dodgers' unlikely setup reliever, who returns to the stage tonight when his team opens the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, has spent a career with nobody watching.

PHILADELPHIA -- For the first time this October, the Dodgers showered and dressed in silence. In the middle of a clubhouse that was suddenly devoid of music, Rafael Furcal shook his head. "This won't be easy to forget," Furcal said. "We lost a game because of it." The Dodgers shortstop was talking about how he sailed the ball over the head of first baseman James Loney when he tried to throw out Shane Victorino in the sixth inning.

PHILADELPHIA -- If the Dodgers are worried after losing Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, burning their ace and leaving them needing a win today just to bring the series back to Los Angeles even, they aren't showing it. "This ballclub has come to play every day," Manager Joe Torre said of his Dodgers after they dropped a 3-2 decision Thursday night to the Philadelphia Phillies. "They have a lot of confidence in themselves."