Not easy to stomach this, is it Cubs fans?

Ryan Dempster was so sick Wednesday that he needed a pair of IVs to get upright.

Cubs fans have known that feeling for going on eight weeks now.

The roller coaster that's been the last two months of baseball took no simple twist or turn Wednesday night, but while 40,805 fans were hunched over in agony, holding their stomachs and their breath, Dempster sat it out quietly.

The thrills and spills were left to the faithful, and it was more of the unusual, but it was a spin of a ball that did in the Reds and gave the Cubs perhaps their biggest win of the season, a 3-2 victory that saw Ted Lilly pitch 7 brilliant innings and Bob Howry 2 closing frames of his own.

"If there was a must game for us so far this year, this was it,'' said manager Lou Piniella. "We have our rotation set up now the way we wanted it and there's no excuses now.''

No, not with two off-days and a 1-game lead over the Brewers, who lost 5-4 in 10 innings in Houston a full hour after the Cubs had dispatched the Reds.

And if you don't think the players are suffering, too, the cursing in the Cubs' locker room would have convinced you otherwise when the Brewers tied it in the top of the ninth.

"This has been going on since about the middle of August, nip and tuck the whole way,'' Piniella said. "It sure feels like a race.''

Piniella's done his part by managing the pitching staff as best he can, even gambling with Lilly and Carlos Zambrano on three days' rest this week.

"We did that so they could each get 2 more starts on at least four days' rest,'' Piniella said. "Hey, better now than later.''

And better that than to be the Brewers, who don't have a day off the rest of the way, and must win both their games in hand to stay tied with the Cubs in the loss column.

Ryan Theriot made sure of that when he singled with one out in the bottom of the eighth and the game tied at 2-2. Running hard the whole way, Theriot anticipated a Junior Griffey bobble in right and scurried to second.

What followed was merely another Griffey injury and your standard Matt Murton fielder's choice bloop to left field that scored Theriot, and the Cubs had another bizarre run in another textbook victory.

On a team capable of playing amazingly bad baseball, Theriot is one of the few who attempts to do it right.

"That's why you go hard, because this outfield has a tendency to kick some balls,'' Theriot said. "You leave the box thinking it's possible, and that time the spin on the ball was just right.''

After Howry finished off the Reds in the ninth, a Piniella working on fumes said he's done for a day himself.

"I'm going to do the least I can possibly do,'' Piniella promised. "And I'm not even going to think about baseball ... well, maybe for a few seconds. But I really need the day off.''

If it makes him feel any better, Cub fans feel exactly the same way.

Playoff payoff

If you counted out the days, then you probably already guessed that Jason Marquis would pitch in a potential Oct. 1 tie-breaker with Milwaukee.

But it was interesting to hear Lou Piniella actually say it Wednesday because he's been careful to avoid talking about anything other than games leading up to Sept. 30.

Old home week

Good to see old pal Thom Brennaman back at Wrigley Field this week with his father, Marty, the two completing their first year together in the Reds' broadcast booth.

"It's been a dream come true, even better than I hoped it could be,'' Brennaman said. "I love being with my dad and being back home again.''

Lest you think Brennaman's gone soft, he spent the week cranking up the floor-board heaters in the Cubs' radio and TV booths, making sure former partners Ron Santo and Bob Brenly were as uncomfortable as possible in the very warm weather.

"They still can't figure out why they're roasting,'' Brennaman laughed. "Just returning the favor. Steve Stone did it to me for six months my first year here.''

The right start

With Zach Duke (elbow) making his first start since June 28 Saturday at Wrigley Field, it will mean three lefties for the Pirates this weekend in Chicago, with the Cubs 16-22 vs. left-handers this season. Duke is 3-1 with a 1.42 ERA in 5 career starts at Wrigley Field.

The bulldog

ESPN analyst Orel Hershiser, who was at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night, laughed at the controversy over Cubs starters pitching with less rest.

"Three days' rest?'' Hershiser asked. "I pitched the whole 1988 postseason on no days' rest.''

Hershiser pitched in six games in 16 days with 5 starts, 3 wins, 3 complete games, 1 save, and the MVP awards in both the NLCS and World Series.

The quote

Eric Byrnes to Fox Sports Net on an SI profile: "I'm not sure that it's important for the entire country to know I don't wear underwear."

And finally ...

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "A rare 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card sold at auction for a record $2.8 million. But some doubts have arisen about the card's authenticity after a magnified analysis appears to show Wagner listening to an iPod."