Dodgers: Pressure sunk Cubs
LOS ANGELES - Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who knows a thing or two about postseason success, thinks the Cubs played like a team under a lot of pressure.
Not only did the Cubs have the best record in the National League to live up to, they were constantly being reminded by the media - and even by their own club chairman and his stunt with the priest before Game 1 - that it has been 100 years since the franchise won a World Series.
"Starting in Chicago may have been a benefit for us," Torre said. "Because I just thought that with everything going on with them having the record they've had, I've experienced it before.
"It's a lot of pressure when you're playing at home. I may be off base, but that's just my feeling."
Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre, the former Cub, shared Torre's opinion that the Cubs were under big-time pressure.
"In Chicago, everybody worries about the Cubs and you can't relax and go out and play without hearing the hype and it definitely adds pressure, because you're supposed to win," Pierre told MLB.com. "They'd have done better if they opened on the road.
"The fans there are craving it for so long, it escalates and snowballs as soon as any little thing goes wrong, and everybody starts thinking about the past."
The Cubs also ran into an opponent playing very good baseball at the right time. When the Dodgers wrapped up their National League division series sweep with Saturday's 3-1 win, it was their 22nd win in the last 30 games and 24th at Dodger Stadium against 9 losses since the all-star break.
"This is very satisfying, very satisfying," Torre said. "We had a lot of people doubting us all year. We weren't resentful about it. It was just the fact we haven't really played well enough to get anybody's attention."
The Dodgers got everyone's attention throughout baseball when general manager Ned Colletti traded for left fielder Manny Ramirez and third baseman Casey Blake. Adding Ramirez and Blake, and having shortstop Rafael Furcal recover from back surgery, transformed the Dodgers into a dangerous team.
"I think once Ned started doing some retooling here, their influence and calmness really helped our young players," Torre said.
While it might have been difficult to name the Dodgers' starting rotation before the series, Cubs fans know who Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda are now, They outpitched Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden.
"Our starters all year long have been the consistent part of our game," Torre said. "But to come into a series like this and have Derek Lowe show the way, and Billingsley be about as calm as I've seen him in that second game in Chicago, and then Kuroda dominate, that is special."
It was the first time in 20 years that the Dodgers won a playoff series. The Los Angeles Times on Sunday ran a headline that said, "Sweep away the past."
Hello? One hundred years here. Actually, 101 now.