Dempster, Howry stay strong

A week after Ryan Dempster was seen barking at himself and barking to the umpire for a new ball following a Hunter Pence grand slam that proved the difference in a loss to the Houston Astros, the Cubs righty found himself experiencing deja vu all over again.

But this time it was the sixth inning.

This time it was against the Dodgers.

This time it was in front of another sellout crowd at Wrigley Field doing its level best to urge him on.

And this time it was Dempster who came out on top to lead the Cubs to a 3-1 victory over Los Angeles to snap an ugly two-game losing streak at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Dempster was great," said first baseman Derrek Lee, who provided all the offense the Cubs would need with a 2-run homer in the first inning. "It was huge. We needed that."

With the Cubs nursing a 2-1 lead, one out and the bases loaded, Dempster got Blake DeWitt swinging to set the stage for a showdown with Luis Maza. He got the Dodgers' shortstop to fly out to right to end the rally.

"I still made the same pitch -- fastball away -- only the one I made the other night was a little up," Dempster said. "Today I made the pitch I needed to make."

And, to the surprise of many on hand, he did it all with absolutely no one stirring in the Cubs' bullpen, showing just what kind of confidence Cubs manager Lou Piniella has in his veteran.

That despite the fact Dempster threw a lot of pitches and sweated through "a T-shirt an inning" as well as "about five game jerseys" on a dank, humid Chicago afternoon.

"I think part of that is earning that -- showing that I'm strong enough to keep going and to bounce back," Dempster said. "He (Piniella) knows I'm going to go out there and continue to be aggressive.

It's what Dempster has been doing all season since switching over from closer to starter. He's 6-2 with a 2.56 ERA, but if it's looked easy, that's a deception.

"There's been nothing easy about it," he said. "It's been work. It's been a lot of hard work physically and mentally. And it's going to continue to be hard work."

It wasn't just Dempster whom Piniella showed confidence in Monday. Two innings after Dempster de-jammed himself, Bob Howry pitched his way into and out of a bases-loaded jam.

Like Dempster, Howry did it with a strikeout and a flyout to right. His jam almost turned disastrous, however, but pinch hitter James Loney's long drive to right went just foul.

"Bob's been throwing the ball better and better, and he's pitched in these situations many times with a lot of success, so we decided to stay with him," Piniella said. "It turned out to be a prudent decision."

Just like the one to move Dempster from the bullpen to the rotation.

"I feel prepared every time I go out there that I'll give us a chance to win the game, that I'll throw well," he said.

He has been a man of his word so far.

Cubs 3, Dodgers 1

On the mound: Ryan Dempster worked his way out of a couple of tight jams. He threw 117 pitches, 71 for strikes, over 7 innings to improve to 6-2. Bob Howry wriggled his way into a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and then wriggled his way out to set the table for Kerry Wood to pick up his 11th save.

At the plate: It was longball or no ball for the Cubs. Derrek Lee got things started with a 2-run homer in the first (his 12th), and Aramis Ramirez finished the scoring with a solo shot in the eighth (his ninth). Ramirez has reached base in all but one game at Wrigley Field this season.

-- Mike Spellman