Dodgers get a break after sweep

ST. LOUIS -- Rafael Furcal shrugged his shoulders to his ears, hoping to lessen the chill from the ice bucket being dumped over his head.

Yeah, right.

Even after the endless dousings of champagne and beer from teammates, the frigid water left Furcal with a dazed-but-happy look, as if his mind was trying to comprehend what had just happened.

The same could be said about his team.

Relishing the underdog role all series, the Dodgers made quicker-than-expected work of St. Louis to sweep into the National League Championship Series for the second straight year.

Closing it out with an easy-looking 5-1 win on Saturday, Los Angeles became the third team ever to sweep the Cardinals from the playoffs.

Methodical, decisive and, yes, a bit surprising -- even for them.

"To sweep the Cardinals, it just doesn't happen," Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake said. "I would have never guessed we would have swept them. It makes the champagne a little sweeter."

They'll have plenty of time to savor it.

The NLCS doesn't start until Thursday, giving Los Angeles a welcome break. No need to reset the rotation, worry about who's going to be healthy or not. Just time to rest and look ahead to what might be while the Phillies and Rockies play in the Colorado snow in the other NL division series.

"This isn't where we want to be," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said. "Everyone's thinking about the second plateau, then the World Series."

Getting to the first plateau wasn't supposed to be this easy.

St. Louis was the first team to clinch a playoff spot, sewing up the NL Central on Sept. 26. The Cardinals had the high-profile pitching staff, anchored by Cy Young front-runners Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, and bashers Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday in the middle of their lineup.

St. Louis also had beaten the Dodgers five of seven times this season, 14 of the last 17 in St. Louis.

The Dodgers? They had to leave the champagne on ice for six games before clinching the NL West. Their pitching staff was void of an ace. Their best hitter, Manny Ramirez, was in a late-season funk.

Even with the NL's best record and home-field advantage, Los Angeles was considered the underdog.

The Dodgers just never believed it.

They got timely hits and the better of the pitching matchups and took advantage of one huge blunder by Holliday in Game 2 to reach the NLCS for the second straight season under manager Joe Torre.

"You've got to throw all that stuff out the window at this point," Torre said. "As much as the statistics tell you [what] you should do, you really can't make up for the emotion that goes on in these guys and what they will themselves to do."