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Dodgers take advantage of miscues, cruise past Cubs

Oct 3, 2008 - 7:14 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the National League Division Series with one postseason win in the last 20 years. They doubled that total in two nights at Wrigley Field.

Russell Martin hit a bases-loaded double in a five-run second inning and Manny Ramirez hit his second homer in as many nights to lead the Dodgers to a 10-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday in Game Two of the NLDS.

Rafael Furcal had three hits, drove in two runs and scored two runs for the Dodgers, who took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. The series shifts back to Los Angeles on Saturday.

"It's huge for us, going home up two games," Martin said. "We'll certainly be able to make our players rest and relax."

"I like where we stand in the series," Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake said. "I have a good feeling about going home and being ready to play Game Three. The Cubs are a good team, but we certainly have it all in front of us."

The Cubs, who led the NL in wins in the regular season and were the favorites to advance to the World Series, will now have to become the second team since the advent of the wild card to overcome a 2-0 deficit after dropping the first two games at home.

"So we haven't played well at home; we've got a chance to go to Los Angeles and play good baseball and win a few ballgames and bring it back here," Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. "But we've got to play better baseball, and we've got to hit the ball a little better than we have. There's no question about that."

Chicago was victimized by its defense in the fateful second frame, allowing four unearned runs.

"It's hard to imagine that happening to us," Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee said. "We've been such a good defensive team all year. But there are no excuses for it."

Andre Ethier and James Loney led off with singles. After Matt Kemp struck out, Blake DeWitt hit a grounder to second that Mark DeRosa failed to field cleanly, allowing Ethier to score the opening run.

"He hit the ball hard but it was right at me. I don't have any excuses, I just made an error," DeRosa said. "We still have a chance to win this series but initially this was a marathon, now, for us, it's a sprint."

Blake then reached on Lee's error. After Chad Billingsley struck out, Furcal dropped down a bunt that got past Zambrano (0-1) and allowed the second run to score before Martin cleared the bases with a double into the left-center field gap.

"When you give extra outs, chances are they're going to be capitalized on, and that's what we were able to do tonight," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

Billingsley (1-0) made the lead stand up with 6 2/3 strong innings. The 24-year-old righthander allowed five hits and one run while walking one and striking out seven.

"I felt extremely comfortable out there tonight," Billingsley said. "After the guys got me those runs in the second inning, it made it really easy on me. Taking the crowd out of the game was important for us."

He allowed a leadoff single to Alfonso Soriano in the first inning and a single to Lee in the fourth, accounting for the only damage the Cubs were able to inflict until the seventh.

Zambrano settled down after the second, allowing two more hits before being lifted with one out in the seventh. The burly righthander was charged with seven runs - three earned - and six hits while walking two and striking out seven.

"I know the guys are trying to make plays behind me," Zambrano said of the early miscues. "At that point I had to talk to myself and remind myself to keep my cool. I thought I pitched pretty well."

Ramirez, who is the career leader in postseason homers with 26, led off the fifth with a blast to straightaway center field to push the advantage to 6-0.

Kemp added an RBI single in the seventh, Furcal and Ramirez added run-scoring hits in the eighth and Blake capped Los Angeles' outburst with an RBI single in ninth.