Wait 'til next year, again: Cubs eliminated by LA
LOS ANGELES - In the end, the bitter end, Lou Piniella's worst fears were realized.
"I was concerned about our offense coming into this thing," Piniella said late Saturday night, just minutes after his Cubs fell 3-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers before 56,000 and getting swept from the National League division series for the second straight year.
And so it goes on.
After winning 97 games in the regular season and putting up the National League's best record, the Cubs failed to end their drought of World Series titles at 100 years.
The offense was the big reason. One year removed from scoring a grand total of 6 runs in getting swept from the NLDS by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubs lost to the Dodgers by scores of 7-2, 10-3 and 3-1.
A bitter six-pack indeed.
"Basically, my concerns were realized," Piniella said. "What can I say. We gave it effort. We played as well as we could. At home we were a little sloppy, but today we played a (darn) good baseball game. But we just didn't take advantage of opportunities, and we didn't create many opportunities.
"Give the Dodgers credit, but let me tell you this: You can play postseason between now and another hundred years, and if you score 6 runs in a three-game series, it'll be another hundred years before we win here. But we've got to score more runs. That's it. Period."
Piniella talked bravely before the game of winning and getting back into the series. He sent righty Rich Harden to the mound with plenty of rest. Harden, whose troublesome right shoulder acted up in him late in the regular season, hadn't worked since Sept. 25.
However, he lasted only 4 1-3 innings, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs.
The Dodgers opened quickly against Harden. With one out in the first, Russell Martin doubled to left field. Manny Ramirez singled to left. Martin held up on the ball, and he barely beat the tag at third base.
After Harden struck out Andre Ethier, James Loney hit a 2-run double to right field.
The Cubs left six men on base over the first four innings against Hiroki Kuroda. In the first, Derrek Lee doubled with two outs, and Aramis Ramirez walked. But Geovany Soto grounded out to end the inning.
Mike Fontenot and Lee hit two-out singles in the third, but Ramirez grounded into a forceout.
The Cubs then wasted a leadoff double by Soto in the fourth.
The Dodgers made it 3-0 in the fifth. Rafael Furcal walked with one out and came home on Martin's double to left.
The Cubs, who did nothing with Kuroda at Dodger Stadium back in June, went quietly through the middle innings, with Kuroda going 1-2-3 in the fifth and sixth.
It looked like the Cubs might break through in the seventh. With one out, No. 8 hitter Ryan Theriot reached on an infield single to deep short, as Furcal couldn't come up with the ball.
Kosuke Fukudome, who entered the game on a double switch the previous inning, lined a single to center against Kuroda, against whom he hit well in Japan.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre then came out and got Kuroda in favor of Cory Wade. Alfonso Soriano swung at the first pitch and flied out to right.
Mike Fontenot, who started at second base, battled Wade to a 3-2 count before lining out hard to center field.
The Cubs broke through with a run in the eighth. Lee doubled, and after Wade got two outs, pinch hitter Daryle Ward singled to score Lee.
Torre replaced Wade with Jonathan Broxton, and after pinch runner Ronny Cedeno stole second base, Broxton struck out Mark DeRosa.
"It's upsetting," DeRosa said. "You have to get on a plane and go home. Everything you worked so hard for to get to this point in the season is gone."
The Cubs went 1-2-3 in the ninth, and the game ended in somewhat poetic fashion, with Soriano striking out on a checked swing.
Soriano was one of the goats of last year's NLDS. This year he went 0-for-5 in Game 1, 1-for-4 in Game 2 and 0-for-5 Saturday night. The Cubs were 1-for-11 with men in scoring position, and they left nine on base.
Piniella said Saturday night was not the time to start discussing what changes have to be made for next year. He was, however, sure of one thing.
"I want to do more than play the part of the good loser," he said. "I really do. I want to do more than play the part of congratulating the other team in the first round of the playoffs."
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=240548">The postseason history of the Chicago Cubs</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240553">Imrem: The ultimate bad occurance</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240551">Soriano tells fans to be patient</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs/">Playoff coverage</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=240550">Cubs fans mourn loss in NL division series</a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/vws/search/aspx/ap.aspx?t=s316&p=ENAPsports_ENAPsports&g=1005s_MLB_Wrap&f=ilarl','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));">Dodgers sweep </a></li> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=240547">Images from Saturday's game</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>