Dodgers are most resilient team around

Say this much about the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Whenever they absolutely needed to win this season, they did.

Did you notice how they finally beat the Colorado Rockies to clinch the NL West after the Rockies came within a game of them? (This, after failing to clinch vs. lowly Pittsburgh or San Diego.)

Or did you notice how that virtually every time the Dodgers were slumping this season and somebody came within a game or two of them, the Dodgers started winning again?

Or how about supposedly being “overmatched” by St. Louis pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, only to sweep three straight from the Cardinals in the NL Divisional Series?

Now, the Philadelphia Phillies are supposed to beat the Dodgers for the second consecutive year in the NL Championship Series … or are they?

If nothing else, the Dodgers have proven to be the most resilient team around in 2009. They are hard to bet against at this point.

Another thing tough to bet against is the possibility of a Freeway Series matching the Dodgers and Anaheim Angels in the World Series.

“You kind of catch yourself rooting for the Dodgers, and I'm sure the Dodgers are rooting for us,” Torii Hunter of the Angels told the Associated Press. “It'd be kind of awesome to have a Freeway Series.”

There would be an irony in a Freeway Series in that Angels manager Mike Scioscia was the catcher on the last Dodgers team to win a World Series in 1988. Angels coaches Mickey Hatcher and Alfredo Griffin also played for the 1988 Dodgers.

Twenty-one years later, the Dodgers look like they may once again be a team of destiny.

Memories of the 1984 San Diego Padres

The team’s best defensive left fielder played second base. A man made for first base played left field.

Those were just a couple of the spring training decisions by Manager Dick Williams that helped lead the San Diego Padres to their first National League championship in 1984.

Certainly, when people think back on that season, they recall Steve Garvey hitting the home run off Lee Smith to send the NL Championship Series vs. the Chicago Cubs to a deciding Game 5.

Then they will flash back to Tim Flannery’s ground ball going between the legs of Cubs first baseman Leon Durham, which propelled the Padres to a decisive 6-3 win over Rick Sutcliffe … who finished with a 16-1 record and the NL Cy Young that year.

Another “memory” is the Aug. 12 game at Atlanta, when Braves pitcher Pascual Perez started a war by hitting Alan Wiggins with the game’s first pitch. It led to 16 players being ejected; and ultimately, Williams receiving a 10-game suspension for having each of his pitchers throw at Perez.

(What most don’t remember is that the game was delayed 90 minutes at the start by heavy rain at a very humid Fulton County Stadium.)

A majority … especially those of us who were there … will remember Detroit “fans” tipping over police cars and breaking windows of nearby businesses after the Tigers beat the Padres in the fifth and deciding game of the World Series.

But the little things that few can recall are what really showed that the 1984 season was meant for the Padres.

It began with Wiggins, the team’s speedy leadoff batter and presumed left fielder, moving to second base. In turn, rookie Carmelo Martinez (a natural first baseman) was moved to left field because Steve Garvey was at first.

Williams also decided in spring training that closer Goose Gossage would start the ninth inning rather than come into the game with men on base; a unique concept in 1984.

As it turned out, all of the unusual decisions by Williams were charms. But Williams was no charmer; wearing out his welcome in San Diego when he walked out on the Padres the first day of spring training in 1986.

Memories. They never get old; especially when recalling the little things that made the 1984 season such a big thing for the Padres.

And you can re-live those moments when the Padres honor their 1984 NL champions before Saturday night’s game vs. the Cubbies at Petco Park.

Dodgers should be hooting, howling in NLCS

During Game 3 of the 1977 National League Championship Series (NLCS) in Philadelphia, the crowd noise caused Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Burt “Hoot Owl” Hooton to lose control.

He walked three consecutive batters, and couldn’t even make it out of the second inning.

Will the Phillies’ fans again get to the Dodgers when the 2008 NLCS begins Thursday?

Probably not.

There are three main reasons the Dodgers should win:

Joe Torre: He was criticized annually for not getting out of the first round with the New York Yankees. The Yankees didn’t even make the playoffs this year; Torre advanced to Round 2. Advantage: Torre.

Manny Ramirez: He stopped playing for the Boston Red Sox but can’t stop playing for the Dodgers. Don’t expect him to stop now. Advantage: Manny.

Greg Maddux. OK, he’s only 2-5 with the Dodgers. But do you see how the LA pitchers – especially the younger ones – immediately go to Maddux when they come out of a game?

The Dodgers’ fourth advantage is a somewhat healthy Rafael Furcal at shortstop. He may not be the .357 hitter he was before being injured in May, but his mere presence at the top of the batting order makes the Dodgers better.

NLCS: Advantage, Dodgers.

Can Cubs win it all this year?

Go Cubs go,
Go Cubs go,
Hey Chicago, whaddya say,
The Cubs are gonna win today!

Back in 1984, that was the theme song for the best Chicago Cubs team in decades.

Of course, that team made it all the way to the National League Championship Series; only to win the first two games and lose three straight to the Padres … who went on to lose the World Series to Detroit.

As the Cubs begin a three-game series in San Diego tonight at Petco Park, this is arguably their best team in a century. And, yes, it has been a century since the Cubs won their last World Series in 1908.

It’s interesting that the Cubs have won seven straight games, all against the Weak Weak West of the NL (three vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers; four vs. the Colorado Rockies.)

Alfonso Soriano is certainly playing like a Most Valuable Player … but we can’t call him an MVP candidate since every player is technically a candidate for the award.

Derrek Lee is having a great year, Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome is off to a hot start, and Jim Edmonds is playing 10 times better than he did for the Padres.

The pitching staff is again led by Carlos Zambrano, who gets the start in the series opener vs. the Padres.

Are the Cubs good enough to win the World Series for the first time in 100 years?

We say “yes” from this vantage point.