CHICAGO – Even for the Cubs, this is embarrassing.
Lou Piniella’s club couldn’t get out of its own way here last night, committing four errors to put Joe Torre’s Dodgers on the verge of a humiliating NLDS sweep after their 10-3 rout at Wrigley Field in Game 2.
Because of its second straight lopsided loss, a 97-win team and the NL’s dominant club all summer now heads to Los Angeles on the verge of yet another three-and-out playoff exit.
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“If you the play the way we’ve played, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is,” Piniella fumed.
The Billy Goat Curse, the Bartman Hex and every other demon in the Cubs’ closet look alive and well, considering no team in the history of the NLDS has come back from a 0-2 deficit to win the best-of-5 series.
L.A. can clinch tomorrow night at Dodger Stadium – and the Cubs’ 100-year World Series drought can reach 101 – because Chicago’s infield looked like it had never picked up a glove before behind hard-luck starter Carlos Zambrano.
The Cubs’ eighth straight postseason loss was cinched when second baseman Mark DeRosa and first baseman Derrek Lee each committed crucial errors in the second inning that led to four unearned runs. The bungling paved the way for a five-run Dodgers outburst that essentially decided this one before it had barely started.
Each member of the infield ended up taking turns committing the Cubs’ four errors overall (leading to five unearned runs). Unbelievably, Chicago even had trouble getting the ball back to Zambrano when it wasn’t in play. Rookie catcher Geovany Soto twice threw the ball wildly on normally routine throws back to the pitcher.
“The last two days have probably been the two worst games we’ve played all year,” said Piniella, who angrily announced the benching of a hitless Kosuke Fukudome afterward.
Having turned numb with despair by the fifth inning, the capacity crowd only could watch in dazed silence when Manny Ramirez belted his second homer in as many days to stretch the Dodgers’ lead to 6-0.
Ramirez is hitting .500 in the series (4-for-8) with three RBIs and three runs.
The Cubs were in no position to make up for their shoddy glove work because Los Angeles starter Chad Billingsley was almost effortlessly mowing them down. The right-hander gave up a leadoff single to Alfonso Soriano, then calmly retired nine of the next 10 batters.
Billingsley, who hasn’t lost since Aug. 25, picked up his fifth consecutive victory by scattering five hits and one walk while striking out seven in 62/3 masterful innings.
Zambrano actually pitched well in comparison, giving up three earned runs and two walks while striking seven in 61/3 innings, but still hasn’t won in three starts since his Sept. 14 no-hitter against the Astros.
The Cubs didn’t exactly make Billingsley work very hard, either, hacking away early in the count for the second straight night. Fukudome and Soriano have been the guiltiest parties so far, with Fukudome hitless in eight at-bats and Soriano hitting .111 (1-for-9).
It’s a familiar story for Soriano, who is flaming out massively in the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Just like the Cubs.