Reveling in Their Moments

The question was debated recently in a champagne-soaked clubhouse among Dodgers on a championship high.

What was their most thrilling moment in a season of late-inning magic?

“With as many as we’ve had, I’d have to take some time to think about that one,” said Steve Finley, whose walk-off grand slam that clinched the National League West title was often nominated.

Shawn Green submitted Adrian Beltre’s collection of home runs for consideration.

“Just pick any one of Belly’s,” Green said. “It seems like all he does is hit game-winning home runs.”

And Beltre?

“I really don’t know and I really don’t care because that’s in the past,” he said. “All I know is I just want us to keep it going against St. Louis.”

The Dodgers are confident as they begin the National League division series today against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, believing anything is possible after repeatedly achieving the improbable while winning their first division title since 1995.

With a franchise-record 53-comeback victories -- 26 in their final at-bat -- the Dodgers are upbeat about facing the formidable Cardinals, who had the major leagues’ best record. The Dodgers said something special was happening with them, and were hopeful it wouldn’t end soon.

“This team’s not afraid of nothing,” said pitcher Jose Lima, expected to start Saturday in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium. “No matter if we’re down one, two, three, four runs or whatever ... the Dodgers [are] not going to go away.

“All these teams see now that we can be down in the seventh inning, the eighth inning and we don’t give up. You know what that does to the other team? That makes them think, ‘Oh, no, these guys still can win.’ That’s why we know we got a chance against anybody in the playoffs.”

The Dodgers made believers of the rest of the NL West on their closing nine-game trip and seven-game homestand.

They twice overcame five-run deficits in victories over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, and rallied for three wins in a four-game series with Colorado at Dodger Stadium in late September.

Finley’s two-run single a week ago completed the Dodgers’ most stirring turnaround to that point -- a five-run ninth inning in a 5-4 victory over Colorado. For an encore, Finley hit the climactic homer that completed the Dodgers’ seven-run ninth in Saturday’s 7-3 division-clincher over the San Francisco Giants.

“They just kept coming back all year long,” said Giant reliever Matt Herges, who played for the Dodgers in 2000 and 2001.

“You realized that they had the ability to do it because they kept doing it, but you were still stunned it kept happening. I don’t know if it’s magic or whatever you want to call it, but they’ve got something working for them.”

According to Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta, it’s confidence.

“We had a couple of games early in the year where we came back and won,” he said. “We also had a handful of other games in the middle of the year where we were down by four or five runs and came back all the way and didn’t win, but they proved to themselves they can come all the way back.

“Obviously, when you have 53 come-from-behind victories, they’re used to doing it, so our guys never panic. They have the confidence that, regardless of the score and regardless of the time of game, they still have a very legitimate chance.

“I don’t know if there’s any magic to it, but there’s certainly a lot of confidence among our players that they’re going to win in those situations.”

And that could be a key in the best-of-five division series against a team that led the NL in runs.

“We’re not surprised by anything,” Beltre said. “We’ve been down, sometimes by a lot, but it’s a good feeling knowing you can come back. You don’t want to be in that situation, but it’s good to have that in your mind.”

Confidence also could make up for the Dodgers’ lack of playoff experience. The Cardinals are in the playoffs for the third time in the last four years. The Dodgers are making their first playoff appearance in eight years, and seeking their first postseason victory since 1988.

“If you go back to the last road trip and you start looking at some of the games that we came back in, and the type of situations and the intensity of those moments, we gave ourselves a real taste of what it’s going to be like, beginning [today],” Manager Jim Tracy said. “The one thing about this club is that we have shown resiliency a number of times this year.

“When it very much appeared our backs were pinned up against the wall, we never allowed anyone to nail us to it. We came off it.”

*

DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS

TODAY’S GAME 1 STARTERS

Dodgers’ Odalis Perez (7-6, 3.25)

Cardinals’ Woody Williams (11-8, 4.18)

Time: 10 a.m. PDT. TV: ESPN, Ch. 13

OTHER SERIES

* Houston vs. Atlanta

Game 1, Wednesday, 1 p.m. PDT, ESPN