ST. LOUIS -- One nerve-wracking athlete should be enough for any town.

Chicago is blessed with -- or cursed by -- a couple.

Except, Rex Grossman and Ryan Dempster actually might be the same person.

For all anybody knows this afternoon, Ryan Grosster or Rex Dempman could ride spiritual transportation to pitch for the Cubs in Busch Stadium and play quarterback for the Bears in Soldier Field.

The relationship between a lot of Cubs fans and Dempster -- as with a lot of Bears fans and Grossman -- is best described as like-dislike.

That's more gently put than love-hate, though Dempster himself says, "I'm trying to give them as many reasons as possible to not hate me."

Those words came just moments after Dempster pitched an uncharacteristically uneventful ninth inning against the Cardinals to save Saturday's first game of a day-night doubleheader.

It also came just hours after Cubs manager Lou Piniella had to yank Dempster from the ninth inning of Friday night's victory.

"When I was warming up (Saturday)," Dempster said, "(fans) reminded me that I gave up 2 home runs (Friday)."

Cardinals fans?

"Cub fans, too," he said with a smile. "But they're quick to forget. They appreciate effort."

As you can tell, Dempster is as pleasant a fellow as Grossman is. Off the field you'd like to spend time with both. On the field there are times you'd like to scold them.

Even when they're good, you're left wondering either how they did it or why they don't do it all the time.

The Bears rave about Grossman's impressive won-lost record as a starting quarterback, even though their defense and special teams are more responsible.

Does that remind you at all of Dempster?

The Cubs' closer has converted 27 of 30 save opportunities this season. Yet his ERA is above 4. Over a combined 3 appearances prior to Saturday, he yielded 4 runs in 3 innings.

Yet the Cubs respect Dempster as much as the Bears respect Grossman (meaning a lot), even as Cubs fans fret over his adventures as much as Bears fans fret over Grossman's inconsistency (meaning often).

"Sometimes a reliever doesn't feel good," was Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano's explanation after Dempster nearly squandered 1 of his victories.

As Zambrano spoke, you almost could hear the Bears explaining away Grossman's zero quarterback rating in a 2006 game.

Piniella said after Dempster's most recent klunker, "If we have a save situation he'll be out there tomorrow."

You could almost hear Bears head coach Lovie Smith insisting, "Rex is our quarterback."

The Cubs attributed Dempster's poor Friday outing to "guys losing adrenaline" when it isn't a save situation.

You could almost hear the Bears saying Grossman still is a young quarterback, yada-blah, yada-blah.

Sometimes you want to scream, "Tell us what you really think!" Or, "If that's what you really think, let me puff on whatever you're smoking!"

Among nervous fans, the mood seems to be that Dempster is going to implode during a playoff game the way Grossman did during the Super Bowl.

That's if Dempster doesn't blow a save that keeps the Cubs out of the postseason entirely.

"He's human," Zambrano said.

He meant Dempster. He could have meant Grossman.

For better or worse -- actually for better and worse -- to a lot of fans they are the same person.

mimrem@dailyherald.com