Coach can't stop 'Big Z'

Carlos Zambrano can claim that at first he didn't see third-base coach Mike Quade's stop sign in the third inning Monday, but Dodgers catcher Russell Martin did.

And Martin was surprised to see the Cubs' pitcher charging at him with virtually no chance to score.

"I was surprised, yeah," said Martin, who made the easy tag on Zambrano. "He was running hard from the get-go and I was surprised to see him keep going because the coach had put up his arms and gave him the stop sign.

"I guess his legs felt good or something and he thought he could make it. It was an aggressive mistake, but it cost them a little bit."

It was a 1-1 game at the time. Zambrano's poor decision might have cost the Cubs a big inning, although they did score immediately after the play to take the lead.

Dodgers manager Grady Little steered clear of questioning what Zambrano did.

"Things started to happen after that and we're glad they happened the way they happened," Little said.

After beating Zambrano 11-3 at Wrigley Field, the last thing the Dodgers wanted to do was analyze him.

"I don't know, I'm not in Zambrano's head," Martin said. "I don't know what's going on in there. I'm just trying to do my thing when I'm facing him, waiting for pitches I can hit."

The Dodgers smacked Zambrano all around the ballpark, tagging him for 8 runs and 7 hits in 4½ innings. And when they weren't hitting Zambrano, they were walking five times.

"If he's not throwing strikes we're going to take pitches," Martin said. "We recognized he was struggling at times with his command and we were able to stay patient and wait for pitches we could drive. That's what we did."

While Zambrano was making mistake after mistake with his pitching, baserunning and not backing up bases, Dodgers starter Esteban Loaiza was more than solid in his first start for his new team.

Loaiza, acquired by the Dodgers off waivers from Oakland on Aug. 29, pitched 7 innings for just his second win of the season. He appeared in only two games for the A's, spending much of the year on the disabled list.

"The bottom line is he threw all his pitches for strikes and that was key to his success," Little said.

"I'm here for a reason -- to battle for first place and try to get to the playoffs," said Loaiza, who went 21-9 for the White Sox in 2003 before his career took a turn for the ordinary. "I want to go out there and prove that I can still go out there and win games."

Loaiza even got a hit off Zambrano, for the Cubs a back-breaking two-out, 2-run single in the fourth inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.

"I think that was a big inning and a big hit of mine," Loaiza said. "It got a little rally going and helped get Zambrano out of the game early."

Loaiza said he hadn't batted in a game since he pitched for the Nationals in 2005.

"That was a killing blow," Little said. "We were good today. We're proud of a lot of at-bats we had."