But it's no stretch to say the Los Angeles Dodgers have improbably gone from World Series longshot to arguably the favorite to represent the NL in the Fall Classic on the strength of their starting pitching.

Just like old times.

When 20 years pass in between postseason series victories, it's easy to forget that L.A. and dominating starting pitching used to go together like Dodger Dogs and a cold beer. And when you add a splashy offseason managerial hire and an even splashier midseason acquisition, it's just as easy to come to the conclusion that the recipe for postseason success was as simple as adding Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez.

Don't get me wrong. Ramirez was undoubtedly a factor in the Dodgers' first series win since 1988, whether he was golfing a shot into the bleachers at Wrigley or legging out an infield squibber in a display of hustle that had to have Red Sox fans shaking their heads in disgust. Likewise, it wasn't difficult to see Torre's steady hand in the way James Loney finally lived up to the potential that made him untradeable during the four years since L.A. last won a single playoff game.

But if you want to know why the Dodgers' two decades of postseason frustration is over and the Cubs are still going on a century since their last World Series title, you need look no further than this stat — 19 innings pitched, three earned runs.

That's what the Dodgers got out of Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda against the Cubs. Three games. Three quality starts. And we aren't talking about the extremely generous definition of "quality start" that if extrapolated over an entire season would result in a "quality" pitcher with a 4.50 ERA. We're talking about the kind of quality start that would have done Torre's championship-winning Yankees teams of the late 1990s proud — a run or two over six innings of work before handing the ball (and the lead) over to the bullpen to slam the door shut.

Just ask Cubs skipper Lou Piniella why his team is headed home after the first round for the second straight year.

"Let me tell you this: You can play postseason baseball for now to another hundred years, but if you score six runs in three games, it's going to be another hundred years before we win," Piniella said.

Even if you gave the Dodgers a hundred years, they might not fashion a trio of playoff pitching performances this good. Or this unexpected.

Because while the Dodgers did lead the National League in team ERA, Lowe was the lone known playoff quantity expected to get a start in the NLDS; while with the Red Sox in 2004, he became the first pitcher to win the deciding game in three series in the same postseason. So when he fell behind early in Game 1, the outlook for the Dodgers was pretty bleak. After all, L.A. was going to counter Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden with one pitcher coming off his first full season as a starter and another making his first playoff appearance after 12 years in pro baseball.

But not only did Lowe right himself in time to pick up the win, he inexplicably turned out to be the weak link of the Dodgers rotation. Relatively speaking.

Billingsley came back in Game 2 and gave Torre six innings of shutout ball before finally getting touched for the lone run in the seventh. Then Kuroda went Billingsley one better, stranding six runners on base while battling his way through 6.1 scoreless innings.

It's what October baseball is all about: Good pitching shutting down good hitting. And while the Dodgers' record kept most people from noticing them until the final month of the season, they've been doing it all season long.

"Our starters all year long have been the consistent part of our game," Torre said. "But to come into a series like this and have Derek Lowe show the way, and Billingsley, who was about as calm as I've seen him in that second game in Chicago and then Kuroda. What an adjustment he's made and to go out there and dominate like he did (Saturday)."

The Dodgers will need more of the same if they're going to complete the exorcism of playoff demons past. They'll likely add another pitcher to the rotation against the Phillies. And whether it's the phenom (Clayton Kershaw) or the Hall-of-Famer (Greg Maddux), one thing is certain: Nothing the Dodgers' starters do from this point out is going to shock anyone. Because this is who this team is.

"We struggled to find out who we were for a long period of time," Torre said. "But the one thing that kept us (in it) ... we had that one game where we beat Anaheim out here we didn't get any hits. If it wasn't for pitching, it would be tough to keep guys' interest, trust me, because we weren't putting many numbers up."

Believe me, they've got our interest now.