The playoff between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant comes 25 years after the teams last met in postseason play.

But from 1977-83, the clubs faced off three times in the NL Championship Series, back when it was a best-of-five playoff instead of best-of-seven.

The Dodgers beat the Phillies to win the pennant in 1977 and again in '78. But the Phillies prevailed when the teams met in '83. All three series were decided in four games.

It was the era of the Dodgers' Tommy John, Dusty Baker, Steve Garvey and Bill Russell against such Phillies stars as Steve Carlton, Greg Luzinski, Gary Matthews and Mike Schmidt.

The series also included the Dodgers' Davey Lopes, who now is a coach with Philadelphia, and the Phillies' Larry Bowa, now a coach with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre, two legendary postseason performers, in uniform. They have swept the Chicago Cubs, the trendy pick to win the World Series, in convincing fashion in a National League division series.

But Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel seems unimpressed. "Yeah, I think we can hold our own with them. Actually, I think we can beat anybody in the National League, really, when you think about it. I liked our chances against the Cubs, the Dodgers, and everybody we've played."

Milwaukee second baseman Rickie Weeks had surgery to repair a cartilage tear in his left knee and is expected to be ready for spring training. Weeks had part of the damaged meniscus removed by team physician Dr. William Raasch. Weeks was injured Saturday night in Game 3 against Philadelphia when he jammed his knee running out a grounder and got tangled up with first baseman Ryan Howard.

San Diego opened space on its 40-man roster, when catcher Josh Bard and left-hander Shawn Estes cleared outright waivers and chose to become free agents. Right-hander Dirk Hayhurst was claimed by the Blue Jays, and catcher Luke Carlin and infielder Sean Kazmar were sent outright to Class AAA Portland.

Pitcher Brandon Backe was among 10 people arrested during a brawl with police at a weekend wedding reception in a Galveston hotel bar. The bride's father, 19-year-old brother and a FEMA coordinator also were arrested Sunday at the hotel.