Dempster not buying comparisons to '04 season

MIAMI -- Cubs closer Ryan Dempster was with the team at the end of the 2004 season, when it let a seemingly safe wild-card lead evaporate.

He says this year is different.

"We were up there," Dempster said, recalling '04. "But we're playing well right now. There (in '04), we weren't playing well toward the end. Now, we're playing well, so we've just got to keep it going."

With some fans and media, there's a sense of foreboding with the Cubs, that some ghosts of history are going to haunt them again this fall.

"I don't get it, though," Dempster protested. "I was just (saying) I'm no mathematician, I'm a baseball player. But I did see in the paper that we're 2 up. We're in first place by 2 games.

"So I figure if we win one today and we win one tomorrow and one the next day that our chances at the end are getting better and better."

Dempster also stressed that the current Cubs players aren't burdened by any weight of history or talk of curses.

"Honestly, I know it's hard for people to understand, but we don't, honestly, think about it," he said. "We just think about going out there and winning a ballgame today.

"You've got to answer questions about it. It's just like anything. If you make a mistake, you've got to answer questions about it. If you do something right, you've got to answer questions.

"So we understand it comes with the territory, and it comes with playing for the Cubs organization and things that have happened in the past. There's something different about this team that in my years here is something special. Good things are happening. We're playing really well."