You never know: Jelling at right time, Dodgers just might win it all

Really.

And the misfortune for the Cubs, and Philadelphia or Milwaukee in the next round, is that they really don't know the full potential of these Dodgers, either.

"I was amused reading a few of their comments about, well, there's no pressure on us, nobody expects anything from us," Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who actually didn't seem all that amused, said before the game. "You know, they've got a nice ballclub."

As Dodgers manager Joe Torre was saying, "This ballclub has become a different team over the course of the year, with having Furcal early, losing Furcal. Now having him back sort of made a different team of us. And getting Casey Blake midway through, and then Manny, Maddux -- even though Maddux has pitched in a handful of games, he's still had an influence on the way this ballclub thinks and acts."

The Cubs, whose 97 victories just sort of evaporated into thin air, never knew what hit them. The Phillies or Brewers stand warned. The Dodgers spent so much of the year limping or dragging through the schedule, right up until losing eight consecutive games -- with Manny -- in August.

But the longer this group plays together, the more special it looks.

"We know," said Don Mattingly, another late addition. Mattingly didn't take over as Dodgers batting coach until after the All-Star break, a half-season delay because he stayed back home in Indiana to deal with some personal problems early.

"We know what we've got," Mattingly continued. "But we're still growing."

Out in the hallway off the Dodgers clubhouse, soaking wet with champagne and sweat, general manager Ned Colletti, the man who did most of the heavy lifting in putting this puzzle together, looked in at the room full of pieces.

"There were days it looked like it was insurmountable that things would fall into place," he said.

He talked of the group of youngsters -- Andre Ethier, James Loney, Matt Kemp and others -- that he said is still learning.

He spoke of his manager, Torre, whose amazing run of Octobers now turns the page and enters yet another chapter.

"Joe kept everything steady when we were going through all kinds of different things," Colletti said. "A bunch of injuries. A bunch of challenging things.

"He kept everything even keel."

Same old go-for-the-jugular Torre, too. All those Octobers with the Yankees when he would call for closer Mariano Rivera in the eighth inning to go for the kill? Someone asked Torre before the game whom he was planning to start in Game 4.

"I don't have a plan for Game 4," he said evenly, and you knew he did, because that's what managers are charged to do, prepare for everything, but, still. Point made.

So the team that stepped in front of what was supposed to be a Cubs steamroller this month having won only one postseason game since 1988 now has won three in a row and is playing as well as it has all summer.

Was what we just saw during three games the best this still-evolving team can be?

Or is the best yet to come?

"I do know we're kind of showing signs of playing as well as we can play right now," Blake said. "If we keep getting pitching and timely hitting. ..."

Said Colletti: "I think when you're up to the challenge and you want to compete every day, anything can happen. It takes a massive effort and focus, and the right priorities.

"But we've all seen it happen. We've all seen it happen in every sport. There's not a ton of expectations, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the NLCS."

"The sky's the limit," said Ramirez, clutching a box of Zico passion fruit-orange juice. "You never know what's going to happen."

Ain't that the truth.