NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Baker has helped Cubs shuck old image as major league's most lovable losers

Chicago, leading 3-2, plays Florida tonight in Game 6 of the series.
CHICAGO (AP) -- While he waits to see whether his Chicago Cubs reach the World Series, Dusty Baker can savor one big win -- with his managing, they've shucked their longtime image as baseball's lovable losers.
Cute cubby bear on their sleeves? Friendly Confines? Warm and fuzzy feel?
Forget it. More like grizzlies than baby bruins, these Cubs.
Mark Prior and Kerry Wood buzz batters, even if it's Barry Bonds. Kenny Lofton knocks down Florida pitcher Mark Redman with a loose elbow. Baker shouts out Tony La Russa.
"What we've been fighting here all year long," Baker said Monday, a day before the Cubs played Florida in Game 6 of the NL championship series. "Everytime you lose a game, somebody conjures up something negative in history that happened before."
Ahead 3-2, the Cubs can wrap up their first World Series trip in 58 years with a win tonight. Prior will start against Carl Pavano in what will be more like the frozen confines -- the forecast is calling for rain, wind and temperatures in the low 40s.
A win would give the Cubs a chance to claim their first Series championship in 95 years. Jack McKeon had no good reason for the Cubs' long drought.
"I don't know. I'm not that old. I haven't been following them that long to see what goes on," the 72-year-old Marlins manager said.
"There's a lot of luck involved and I don't know whether the hex or the curse in Boston ... I guess if you want to believe that, that's what will happen. So, I hope you all keep believing the hex is still on."
Keep focus on the field
Baker wants to keep the focus on the field, though he knows a lot of fans will be thinking about the Cubs' past.
"Most of these guys in 1984 -- Kerry Wood in 1984 -- what was he, like 8?" Baker said. "Half of this stuff doesn't apply to them. They can't help the fact that they are playing for the Cubs, Dodgers or A's or whoever they are playing for, and they can't help what happened in the past.
"I was watching a game the other night and in between innings this goat kept running across the street. I thought that was the craziest thing I ever saw in my life. Or 1-800 who's curse is the strongest, the goat or the curse of Babe? Man, that's crazy," he said. "You either don't pay attention to it or you laugh at it. Those are the two choices you got."
Sammy Sosa sure wasn't laughing after a 97 mph from Josh Beckett whizzed past his head Sunday in a 4-0 loss in Game 5. Sosa sprang up, pointing his bat at the young Florida pitcher, and several Cubs rushed to the top of the dugout steps, ready to rumble.
Ernie Banks was Mr. Cub and the ultimate gentleman, entertaining crowds with his call of "Let's play two!" But he never made it to the World Series during his Hall of Fame career.
Makes quick turnaround
Baker guided San Francisco to the Series last year, losing in Game 7 to Anaheim, and then took over a Cubs team that had gone 67-95. This season, Chicago went 88-74 and won the NL Central.
After the Cubs beat Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs, Baker admitted he did not think the turnaround would be so swift. He said new players and a new staff helped bring success, along with an extremely positive outlook.
So what would a championship represent?
"Oh man, it would mean everything," said former second baseman Ryne Sandberg, who nearly led the Cubs to the World Series in 1984.
"I've heard all the things about being part of a losing organization, that the team can't win at Wrigley Field, that they can't win because of all the day games," he said. "I've heard all those things. This would pretty much erase all those things and say the Cubs are a winning organization."