“Well,” Piniella said afterward, “it’s Game 1 only. Let’s hope we get better with it. We need to swing the bats, no question.”

Chicago might as well be on anxiety alert for the rest of the series. All the soothing words in the world might be too late now. But two Dodgers who played for Boston when the Red Sox shed an 86-year World Series drought of their own helpfully offered some tips.

“You can’t change history, you can’t worry about what has happened before,” said Los Angeles starter and winner Derek Lowe, who pitched the clinching Game 4 of the 2004 World Series and knows a little something about the topic.

“A lot of us, we had nothing to do with it, so there’s no sense worrying about jinxes. A lot of it is media driven. ... They only care about this year, not trying to make up for the previous 100.”

No matter who started it, there was little doubt whether it had struck a reflexive chord with the audience packing the old ballpark. Loney’s outfield partner, Matt Kemp, couldn’t help noticing that.

“They couldn’t really say nothing once James hit that grand slam,” he recalled. “They’re always going to talk to you, but it wasn’t as bad once we were up by some runs.”

But it wasn’t just the crowd that sat on its hands the rest of the way. While the Dodgers added three more runs, one in each of the last three innings, the Cubs managed only three hits, left four men on base and never seriously threatened again.

The city might be panicked, but the Cubs insist they aren’t.

“Players don’t think like that, they really don’t,” said Mark DeRosa, whose two-run homer was all the offense the Cubs could muster. “It’s stuff that’s written about, stuff that’s talked about. But we play for the moment. We’re not worried about 100 years.”

Fine.

Start worrying about Thursday night instead.

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