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Loney, Ramirez bash Dodgers past Cubs

Oct 2, 2008 - 4:09 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Chicago Cubs have waited 100 years to win the World Series. If they plan on breaking that drought in 2008, they will have to climb out of a hole.

James Loney made Ryan Dempster pay for his wildness with a grand slam and Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin each added a solo blast to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday in Game One of the National League Division Series.

Derek Lowe (1-0) allowed two runs and seven hits while striking out six in six frames for the Dodgers, who won a postseason game for just the second time since 1988.

"Well, it's important, based on the fact that it does a lot for our confidence," Los Angeles manager Joe Torre said of winning Game One. "You know, we know how good Chicago is, we know how consistent they've been all year, and to have them get a lead and for us to just maintain our patience, it's important."

The Cubs were swept out of the NLDS by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007, but entered the 2008 postseason with high hopes after leading the NL in wins this season.

Dempster was wild from the start, walking one batter in each the first and second inning and leaving the bases loaded after a pair of walks and a hit in the third.

"Our game is to make the pitcher work and be patient," Torre said. "Tonight, considering it was Game One of the Division Series, I thought we showed a great deal of patience at the plate."

"We talked about the importance of throwing strikes before the game," Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. "I thought that would be a big key. There guys threw strikes and our guys did not and it hurt us."

That wildness finally caught up to Dempster in the fifth when the Cubs watched a 2-0 lead disappear with one swing.

Dempster (0-1) walked Rafael Furcal with one out and issued free passes to Ramirez and Andre Ethier after getting Martin to fly out on a 3-1 pitch. Chicago's righthander got Loney to swing over a pair of split-fingered fastballs and foul off a third pitch before running the count to 1-2.

Loney drove the fifth offering from Dempster through the wind and out to straight-away center field to forge a 4-2 lead.

"I was trying to hit something up in the air," Loney said. "I swung at the first three pitches that were low. I had to make an adjustment, and the ball I hit was a little bit higher."

"I threw him a split," Dempster said. "I threw some good pitches up to that point, then I hung a pitch and he made me pay for it. I have to live with that."

Dempster allowed a double to Matt Kemp before being replaced by Sean Marshall. Dempster was charged with four runs and four hits while walking seven and striking out a pair.

"I haven't done that in a while," said Dempster, who tied a career-high with seven free passes. "It's frustrating because I went out there mentally prepared with a game plan. But if you don't execute it, you wont get the results you want."

An unfortunate trend for the Cubs is that the winner of Game One has gone on to win 24 of 28 NLDS matchups.

"Well, it's Game One only," Piniella said. "Let's hope we get better with it. We need to swing the bats, no question."

Lowe, who surrendered a two-run blast to Mark DeRosa in the second, recorded nine groundouts against three fly outs while striking out six and allowing seven hits in six innings.

"Derek was great," Torre said. "I mean, again, he's got that preparation look in his eye, very focused early on. He gave up a home run to DeRosa. DeRosa has had a hell of a year because he uses the whole field, also. The big thing about it, he settled right down and really did a great job for us.

"He just battles you. I watched it for a number of years when he was with the Red Sox. But tonight was huge. When you have a young club and you come into a foreign ballpark, just to get off to a start like this and give us an opportunity to win, just keeping the score 2-0 is as important a start as he's had for us."

Los Angeles added a run in the seventh on Ramirez's solo blast, a run in the eighth on Casey Blake's RBI single and a run in the ninth on Martin's homer.