Ramírez homers, Dodgers roll by Cubs
CHICAGO - After two duds by the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Manny Ramírez and the Los Angeles Dodgers look ready to run Chicago's championship drought to 100 years.
Ramírez hit a mammoth homer to extend his postseason record, Russell Martin had a three-run double, and the Dodgers took advantage of four errors by the clumsy Cubs in a 10-3 victory last night that gave them a 2-0 lead in the NL Division Series.
"It wasn't good baseball. In fact, the last two days, that's probably been the two worst games we've played all year," frustrated manager Lou Piniella said.
"It wasn't fun to watch, I'll tell you that."
Chicago became the 23d major league team to lose the first two games at home in a best-of-five playoff series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only one has come back to win - the 2001 New York Yankees against Oakland.
Of course, that Yankees team was managed by Joe Torre, now in the Dodgers' dugout.
The series switches to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 tomorrow night. Rich Harden will face Hiroki Kuroda, who pitched a four-hit shutout against the Cubs in Los Angeles June 6.
"We're going to come out and try to jump on them again at home. That would be nice," Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley said.
Just days ago, Cubs fans were excited about the team's chance to win its first World Series title since 1908. But suddenly, Chicago is on the brink of elimination. The Cubs must win two consecutive games in Los Angeles to get the series back to Wrigley.
"We've still got one more game to win," Ramírez said. "We're not there yet."
Billingsley shut down Chicago's slumping lineup and Ramírez's 26th postseason home run landed at least 450 feet away. It was his second jaw-dropping shot in two nights.
On defense, the Cubs collapsed. All four infielders made an error, including two in the second that led to a five-run inning for Los Angeles. The four errors by Chicago tied a Division Series record.
Billingsley allowed five hits and a run in 6 2/3 innings to the Cubs, who haven't played like the team with the NL's best record or one that went 55-26 this season in its home park.
Los Angeles got four unearned runs in the second when Chicago's defense faltered as back-to-back errors by normally reliable Mark DeRosa and three-time Gold Glove winner Derrek Lee ignited the Dodgers' five-run inning capped by Martin's three-run double off Carlos Zambrano.
Andre Ethier hit a leadoff single and when he took off for second on a hit-and-run, Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot, who was headed to the bag, couldn't reach a bouncing ball off the bat of James Loney. The single went off of Theriot's bare hand and into left field, putting runners at the corners.
With the crowd chanting "Let's Go, Z," Zambrano then got a third strike past Matt Kemp for the first out. Blake DeWitt hit a hard grounder to second that was made for a double play, but DeRosa fumbled it - the error allowing Ethier to score and putting runners at first and second.
Next, Lee muffed Casey Blake's grounder for another error, loading the bases before Billingsley struck out. But Rafael Furcal pushed a bunt past the pitcher's mound toward second and beat DeRosa's throw for an RBI single and a 2-0 lead.
With the bases still loaded, Martin drove a three-run double into the gap in left-center and a crowd of 42,136 at Wrigley Field fell silent as LA went ahead, 5-0. 