We know that baseball players and their managers are superstitious.

Even in Little League, if our team was on a winning streak, some mate would cry out after the latest victory, "Whatever you do, don't wash your socks!"

Until we lost.

But we were forbidden to even think about such a possibility. You wouldn't want to jinx things or tempt the gods or entice an evil eye to vex you.

The 2008 Dodgers reached the post-season, and then swept the Cubs to get to the National League Championship series against the Phillies. Then, the Dodgers were sent packing.

Two things, at least, happened in the NLCS that the Dodgers are trying to revisit:

(1) Pitcher Chad Billingsley failed to throw at an opposing batter to avenge a Phillies pitcher's erratic toss; and

(2) Matt Stairs, a pinch hitter, stroked a homer that deflated the Dodgers, for good.

This year, the Dodgers obtained Vincente Padilla who is definitely not afraid of pitching inside to batters. One of the reasons Texas reportedly dealt him is that he struck too many opponents.

With Padilla on the Dodgers, you know the Phillies and every other team will be a little more careful in whom they pummel with errant pitches.

(And Padilla, so far, has made an impact where it counts: He has won his first three outings with the Dodgers.)

The Dodgers also acquired slugger Jim Thome, their pinch-hitting equivalent of Matt Stairs. Thome is a genuine home run threat, occupying the #12 spot on the all-time major league career home run hitter list.

Useful as Padilla and Thome are, you have to wonder if there isn't a little bit of "The horse is already out of the barn" syndrome operating here. 2009 will not be an instant replay of 2008.

They say once burned, twice shy, and most neuroses are overreactions to shocking events that occurred long ago.

History repeats itself? If we don't learn from the past, we're doomed to repeating it?

Not in baseball.

Don't look back because something may be gaining on you, said that sage, Satchel Paige, and don't think too far ahead, either.

"Be here now!" is the winning outlook.