"Cubs manager Lou Piniella had no problem with slumping Kosuke Fukudome -- or any other absentees -- missing Friday's optional workout before Saturday night's Game 3. And he said he wasn't surprised by his absence.

''I don't really care if some people didn't show up,'' Piniella said. ''You don't need workouts in October. If we had wanted it to be mandatory, we would have made it mandatory.''

Piniella also said he hadn't talked to Fukudome since deciding to bench him for the rest of the series after Thursday night's game and didn't feel the need to.

''No, look, you just let him sit for a while and see what happens,'' said Piniella of the right fielder who hit .217 after starting in the All-Star Game. ''This has been three months of this now. This just hasn't been 3-4 days.''

As for the workout day, the only other position players who weren't there were Derrek Lee and Jim Edmonds, both of whom have homes and family in California.

Fukudome had flown his family in from Chicago and spent the day with them.

''Sometimes it's better just to get away from it and give your mind a breather, as opposed to fighting it,'' Piniella said.

Let's play seven

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry dismissed the idea of expanding the first round of the playoffs from a best-of-five format to a best-of-seven, saying he didn't like the idea of the postseason creeping into November.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre had a different take.

''I've always felt that you go 162 games, the first round would be important to have best-of-seven because it's really a tough situation to adjust to,'' Torre said. ''Usually, the best teams get in after 162. And then to send them out for that crapshoot, I think it's lucky a lot of times if you win.''

Entering this series against the Cubs, Torre-managed teams had won 7-of-13 best-of-five playoff series -- with losses in their last three in a row. His teams have won 10-of-13 seven-game series."