Manny Ramirez was not so much the hero of Saturday's game, but the late arrival acquired from Boston at the trade deadline has become the emblem of this Dodger season. It isn't a very comfortable time to own stocks, but you'd probably like to have a piece of the company producing those dreadlock wigs they're selling at Dodger Stadium.

The image of the stocky slugger chugging from first to home for a 2-0 lead in the first inning was one of the game's memorable moments, with third-base coach Larry Bowa running alongside as if he might try to score himself.

"I tried to run as fast as I could, hoping he would keep up with me," said Bowa, 62.

Keeping up with the Dodgers suddenly looks difficult.

The team that won fewer games than any other in the postseason swept the team that won 97, the most in the National League, and did it laughably easily.

"You never know. The key is just to get into the postseason and anything can happen," said Ramirez, who hit .500 in the series with two home runs and three runs batted in. "A lot of joy, a lot of blessing, just to move on to the second round."

The Cubs, looking flummoxed the whole series by the date they were breaking with destiny, went down swinging. Alfonso Soriano —1-for-14 in the series — struck out on three pitches for the final out. Dodger right-hander Jonathan Broxton got the final four outs for the save, striking out three.

But this was a tag-team effort, led by Dodger right-hander Hiroki Kuroda's 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the first postseason start of his 12-year career, the first 11 in Japan.

There was more timely hitting by the Dodgers' rather underrated young corps of players, too, with first baseman James Loney — whose grand slam keyed Game 1 — hitting a two-run double in the first, and All-Star catcher Russell Martin doubling twice, driving in the final Dodger run in the fifth inning.

The Cubs put players on the basepaths, but usually left them there, stranding nine. Their only run came in the eighth inning, when pinch-hitter Daryle Ward drove in Derrek Lee, who hit a leadoff double.

"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

It's clear that the Dodgers aren't the same team that struggled to score earlier in the season, and Ramirez is only the most obvious change. The Dodgers also acquired third baseman Casey Blake during the season, and got shortstop and leadoff man Rafael Furcal back just as the regular season ended.

Furcal was hitting .366 in May when he went out because of back surgery. Against the Cubs, he went 4-for-12 and scored four runs.

Had the Dodgers had Ramirez, Blake and Furcal all season they might have won the NL West by 10 games. But the way the season went also allowed the younger players to emerge.

And after a period of decline of the Dodger farm system, it is back, producing players such as Loney, Martin, Game 2 starter Chad Billingsley, center fielder Matt Kemp and second baseman Blake DeWitt. (Right fielder Andre Ethier, another young standout, was acquired in a trade.)

Loney drove in six runs in the series.

"We scratched the surface on how good this kid is going to be," Dodger Manager Joe Torre said. "He goes up there and he's got — I've said it all year long: He reminds me a lot of Bernie Williams just for his personality and sometimes he makes you scratch your head and other times you want to hug him. And again, he kept us calm through this series and certainly we were the beneficiaries for it. He's a special player."

The Cubs weren't as inept in the final game as they were in the first two. Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster walked seven in Game 1, a 7-2 loss, loading the bases for Loney's grand slam. In Game 2, a 10-3 Cubs loss, every infielder committed an error in an implosion that was painful to watch even if you weren't a Cubs fan.

Ah, Cubs fans. Talk of a curse surely has given way to plain old cursing. But grant the Dodgers what Cubs Manager Lou Piniella did.

"The Dodgers, they've got a nice combination of veteran players and young players. And they've got some talent over there," Piniella said.

"When you add Manny in the three-hole, I think it makes everybody feel a little more comfortable and obviously more confident. And then, you know, you add a Furcal there at the top of the lineup, and you add a Blake at the bottom part of the lineup. These guys have postseason experience and all of a sudden you're facing a different look than what you've seen this past summer from the Dodgers."