Before the Lakers took over the minds and hearts of sports fans in Los Angeles, there were the Dodgers. Players such as Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, and Fernando Valenzuela, among many others, were gods, and then things didn't go so well for the team in 1990s. But, with the Dodgers celebrating 50 years in LA this season, things may be changing.

The Dodgers stunned an entire city last night, and maybe even their own fans, when they blew out the Chicago Cubs on the road and took the first two games of their divisional playoff. Big Blue now returns home to play game three at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, and possibly wrap up the best of five series. Only the 2001 New York Yankees, then managed by current Dodger skipper Joe Torre, came back to win a divisional playoff after losing the two opening home games.

The end of last night's game did get a little sloppy for the Dodgers, but, overall, the team played solid baseball in Chicago. While they're still a long way from winning the World Series, the Dodgers seem to be peaking at just the right time. Manny Ramirez and the rest of the team are hitting the heck out of the ball, the defense is tight, and starting pitching has been excellent. In fact, Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully hasn't sounded so excited about the Dodgers since, well…it's been a very long time.

The Dodgers will hold a workout session at the stadium on Friday, then try to move into the next round of playoffs with a win on Saturday. Chicago will hang tough, but the momentum is definitely behind Big Blue. From the way the team is playing right now, something special seems to brewing at Chavez Ravine.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.

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