Zambrano comes through but gets little help

Carlos Zambrano responded with the kind of effort the Cubs were hoping for Thursday night at Wrigley Field in Game 2 of the NLDS.

Unfortunately, things collapsed around him during a 5-run second inning that saw the Dodgers score 4 unearned runs en route to a 10-3 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

With runners at first and third and one out, Zambrano appeared to be out of the inning when Blake DeWitt hit a hard groundball at second baseman Mark DeRosa. But instead of turning the inning-ending double play, DeRosa fumbled the ball allowing a run to score.

Casey Blake then hit a chopper to first baseman Derrek Lee, who bobbled that for another error. After Rafael Furcal's bunt single loaded the bases, Russell Martin lined a double to left-center that cleared the bases, and essentially the game was over.

"I'm not surprised, I'm shocked because we have a good defense," Zambrano said. "D-Lee, for me, is the best first baseman in the league. But there's nothing you can do about it, just keep throwing the ball, keep your head in the game and try to give the team a chance to win the ballgame."

Zambrano looked as if he wanted to hit somebody after the errors but kept his cool for the most part.

"It's part of the game," Zambrano said. "There's nothing I can do about it, just keep pitching and keep my composure. After the errors I said, 'Keep your cool now, keep your cool. You have good stuff.'"

Later, third baseman Aramis Ramirez and shortstop Ryan Theriot committed errors as well.

"You don't see all four of your infielders make errors too often," Zambrano said.

"There were some tough hops in there, too," Theriot said.

It's obvious to Zambrano that the Cubs are playing "too tight" to win games.

"I don't know why," Zambrano said. "We should have played with less pressure."

The Cubs have no choice but to go to Dodger Stadium on Saturday for Game 3 and win to keep the series alive.

"We have to go to L.A., and keep our head up," Zambrano said. "There's no pressure on us. There's pressure for them to get that last win. Boston did it the year that they did it, and we can too."

The Red Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS before winning four straight, then the World Series.

"We're going to have to regroup in a hurry," Theriot said.

"I can't explain what is happening," Jim Edmonds said. "It's embarrassing."

As well as Zambrano pitched (3 earned runs, 6 hits, 7 strikeouts in 6 innings), the offense was a mess for a second straight night with just 8 hits.

"I don't know, man, I'm a pitcher," Zambrano said when asked about the offense. "If you want to know what happened to the offense you must ask our hitters."

The Cubs' 4 errors was 1 shy of a club postseason record.

"That was huge for us," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "When you give extra outs, chances are they're going to be capitalized on, and that's what we were able to do tonight."

Torre's felt Furcal's second-inning bunt single that DeRosa couldn't get to first in time was equally as big.

"I thought Furcal was a huge at-bat, and he did that strictly on his own," Torre said.