Made in Hollywood

"There are two accepted ways to win a game," intoned Dodger President Walter O'Malley with a tight little smile, "the easy way and the hard way. But these guys always do it the Dodger way, and it's always nerve-racking."

Last year the Los Angeles Dodgers finished in seventh place, a dismal 21 games from the top. This year the team had no pitcher that could win 20 games, no slugger challenging for the home-run or runs-batted-in titles, and the best-hitting regular was Wally Moon with a bare .300. But at the start of last week, the Dodgers galumphed into the lead by shattering the league-leading Giants in three successive games, unceremoniously tumbling them from first to third.

Return of the Pros. The Los Angeles Dodgers had moved in an aura of Hollywood make-believe all season long. Too many experiments were working out too well. Brought up from Spokane, a gutty little Negro shortstop named Maury Wills turned into a fielding flash. Pulled off the bench, boyish-faced Jim Gilliam, 30, filled the big hole at third. Picked up from St. Louis, craggy-browed Outfielder Moon, 29, lifted the team with his slashing play. The big pitcher turned out to be Roger Craig, 28, a lanky, laconic righthander, who had a horrendous 5-17 record last year at St. Paul. This year Craig developed an assortment of soft stuff to go with his fastball, by last week had compiled a 10-5 record and an earned-run average of 2.13, lowest of any starter in the league.

But the biggest Hollywood business about the Dodgers was the comeback of veterans who had not starred since the glory days in Brooklyn. First Baseman Gil Hodges, 35, was again tough in the clutch (79 runs-batted-in), despite a taped ankle and forearm. Although he often rode the bench when southpaws began to throw. Outfielder Duke Snider, 33, had once again found his home-run bat (23). The Dodgers were even getting mileage out of gimpy Carl Furillo, 37, who explained: "I look at the ball, and I see dollar signs instead of stitches."

Two Out of Three. Trouble was, San Francisco's Giants and Milwaukee's Braves were also seeing dollar signs. When the Dodgers blew a 12-2 game on the next-to-last day of the season, canny old (38) Warren Spahn curved the Braves into a first-place tie with a 3-2 victory over the Phils, to win the 267th game of his 15-season major-league career. The Giants' Sad Sam ("Toothpick") Jones. 33 (TIME, Sept. 21), had pitched so often that his battered right arm swung like a pendulum. But somehow Sam managed to no-hit the Cards 4-0 in a game stopped by rain after seven innings, kept his third-place team in contention.

On the last day of the season, the Giants blew it; they lost to the Cardinals, 2-1. But in Chicago, the Dodgers' jug-eared Pitcher Craig was the soul of self-assurance ("I'm not cocky--I'm confident"), threw his soft stuff at the Cubs for four innings, then switched to his fastball to win 7-1. But the Braves stayed alive more because of Phillies' boners than their own skills, won 5-2.

In the best-two-out-of-three playoffs with the Braves this week, the Dodgers match their hard-pressed luck against a team that many baseball writers rated the world's best at season's start. Win or lose, the Dodgers were amazed to be there at all.

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