PAST STARTING TO LOOK LIKE PRESENT.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

NEW YORK - Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti looked over at me and asked: ``Did you bring a fork?''

Now you have to allow Colletti that one, since I did write July 27 that the Dodgers were done, though, really, there was no literal mention of putting a fork in them.

Alas, having motivated them from a pathetic wretch of a team 7 1/2 games back in the National League West to the best team in baseball over the last 60 games (41-19), now I could be offering a more disconcerting observation for the Boys in Blue.

The Dodgers are going to beat the Mets.

Not easily, not all that decisively, maybe not even always impressively, but ultimately these Dodgers will find a way to advance to the National League Championship Series.

Too many things are falling into place for the Dodgers. Strange things, cosmic things.

The pieces look familiar. Too familiar to ignore, to pretend they don't exist, to not hear the echoes.

The Dodgers open their 2006 postseason tonight against the Mets, and it is seriously starting to feel like ... 1988.

Back then the Mets were the NL's powerhouse team. They won 100 games and ran away with the East.

Their lineup was filled with superstars. They were a team without flaw.

These 2006 Mets were the best team in the NL almost from the moment the season began. They won a league-best 97 games and their division by a dozen games. Have the most impressive lineup in the NL. And have no obvious flaw.

The 1988 Dodgers didn't scare anyone, but finished the season on a roll. They entered the playoffs with the game's hottest pitcher, Orel Hershiser. Their best player, Kirk Gibson, was limping.

The 2006 Dodgers finished 88-74, but as the hottest team in baseball. It may not be in Hershiser's stratosphere, but Derek Lowe has gone 9-1 with a 2.69 ERA in his last 13 starts. Nomar Garciaparra, who is perhaps their best player, has a bad quad and side.

Come on, can you feel it?

``I know we're the underdog here, but the so-called best team doesn't always win,'' Lowe said. ``It's the team that gets hot.''

To this day, the Mets and Oakland A's will swear they were not beaten by a better team in '88. The Dodgers just shrug and polish their World Series trophy.

Sometimes it is simply about timing, about that strange confluence of sports moments and momentum, of teams growing at the right time, who start to believe no matter what is thrown at them, they will find a way.

``Right now we like the way we're playing,'' said Dodgers manager Grady Little. ``We've been a streaky club all season long. And we're on another one of those good streaks right now. Everything's clicking. We're just ready go get this thing started.''

That the Dodgers finished the season having won nine of their last 10 is less significant than the way they won them. They constantly battled back. They'd fall behind and not care.

Despite their dramatically improved play since that 47-55 start, the Dodgers were hardly a comeback team.

Heading deep into September they had come from behind after trailing by three runs only once all season, and never when down by four or more.

Then came Sept. 18.

The night of four consecutive solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Padres. Of Garciaparra's dramatic two-run homer to win it after the Dodgers had fallen behind in the 10th.

It altered their makeup. Changed the way they viewed themselves and the game. Suddenly, it no longer mattered if they trailed. During their current seven-game winning streak, they came back twice to defeat the Rockies in Colorado and twice in San Francisco to defeat the Giants.

``This is a resilient ballclub (now),'' Jeff Kent said. ``They understand there are nine innings in a game, there is always opportunity left, always a chance to get something going. We're looking forward to the opportunity to see how good we can be.''

That's the thing about these Dodgers, they appreciate what they've accomplished but sense there is more to come. Like a teenager marveling at his growing physical power and wondering what could be next.

``I like the way we're playing right now,'' Lowe said. ``I like the way we had to fight our way in. Win on the road against two teams that would love nothing but to beat us.''

The Dodgers were in such a fight to even make the postseason, they feel like they've already been in the playoffs. That they've been hardened by a successful stretch run. Blossomed with dramatic victories.

The Mets cruised into the finish. They were 11-15 in September until winning their last four games.

Like those 1988 Mets, they feature a powerful lineup with Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and David Wright, all having hit more home runs than any Dodger. And they come in supremely confident.

``We match up well,'' Delgado said. ``We won the (regular-season) series (4-3). They have a good team. We just have to go out there and play our A game.''

But the Mets have lost their top pitcher, Pedro Martinez, for the postseason and now may have lost tonight's scheduled starter, Orlando Hernandez, with a bizarre calf injury while stretching Tuesday.

And things aren't lining up?

The Dodgers actually have the more experienced playoff rotation with Lowe, Greg Maddux and (they hope) Brad Penny, lineup (every L.A. starter but rookie Russell Martin) and manager (Willie Randolph is making his postseason managerial debut).

The Dodgers are playing their most confident baseball of the season at exactly the right time. Now they have their biggest series of the year to win, and echoes to recall.

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