HOLLYWOOD THRILLS
Dodgers stars are ready for their closeup
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are Hollywood. They get it. They know who they are and the town they represent. So, in the middle of the wildest of champagne celebrations, there was Peter Guber, a Dodgers coowner, soaking in the success.
It has been 29 years since the Dodgers made it to the World Series, and Guber, who produced or was executive producer on such films as “Rain Man,” “The Color Purple,” “Midnight Express,” “Batman” and “Flashdance,” knows a great story.
He was taking it all in at the indoor batting cage bunker at Wrigley Field, which had been turned into Dodgers Party Central after an 11-1 thrashing of the Cubs on Thursday night gave the Dodgers the NLCS in five games.
Guber knows the rich history of Dodgers-Yankees World Series encounters.
So when The Post asked him what would it mean to play the Yankees in the World Series, Guber smiled and answered this way, a Hollywood way: “What would it mean to beat the Yankees!”
Yes, these Dodgers are not just happy getting back to the World Series for the first time since 1988. These Dodgers would like nothing better than to face the Yankees and beat them, a coastto-coast triumph for the team that produced the best record in baseball this year.
The Dodgers have the kind of complete team that can win the World Series. Guber, who is coexecutive chairman of the Warriors, knows what it takes to win a championship.
“We’ve got great leadership in [manager] Dave Roberts, everyone is fantastic, and you have to be great, but you know something, then you got to get a little lucky too,” Guber said. “Right now, the wind is at our back and we are going to keep it there.”
The Dodgers outscored the Cubs 28-8. Their pitchers delivered a 1.64 ERA to the Cubs’ 5.36. Total domination, but there is that other step the Dodgers must take.
“The ending of the movie is still to be written,” Guber said of the 2017 Dodgers.
The Yankees were working on a pretty good movie themselves. A win in Houston Saturday night in Game 7 of the ALCS and they would be headed to Dodger Stadium for Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday. These teams mirror one another in their unselfish, next-man-up approach, and they both are a pleasure to watch, really the essence of sports.
Kiké Hernandez was the hero from nowhere Thursday night, drilling three home runs at Wrigley Field, a mini-Reggie Jackson. Despite having champagne burning in his eyes, Hernandez remained laser focused on the goal: winning the World Series.
“It was awesome to do this,” Hernandez told a small group of reporters as the party began to die down, “but we’re not going to sit down and say, ‘Ah, we got to the World Series.’ That’s not our goal. It’s never been our goal. The goal is to win the World Series.” If not? “The season is worth nothing,” Hernandez said.
Same goes for super closer Kenley Jansen, who threw 4 ¹ /3 score- less, hitless innings in the four wins against the Cubs, striking out eight without a walk. He is baseball’s version of the Grim Reaper. When he comes in, the opposing team is dead.
“It’s awesome, 29 years [since the franchise’s last World Series],” Jansen said. “We want it so bad. We want to win a championship. They keep showing that Kirk Gibson replay, it’s time to put something new up there.’’
Gibson’s Hollywood home run sparked the Dodgers to their 1988 World Series championship over the Athletics, and it is an often-repeated highlight at Dodger Stadium. It’s time for some new World Series heroes in Dodger Blue.
This is the buzzsaw the Yankees or Astros will run into come Tuesday.
Yasiel Puig is in the middle of everything with the Dodgers.
“It would be great to play the Yankees,” Puig said, then he showed some impressive knowledge of Dodgers history. “It would be great because the last World Series [between the teams] in 1981, that’s a big moment for the Dodgers.”
The Dodgers won that World Series over the Yankees in six games.