Another wasted homestand frustrates Dempster, Cubs

Except for starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, the Cubs weren't very good at one thing Thursday: playing baseball.

They had a miscast left fielder overrun a flyball and then slip and fall, leading to a pair of unearned runs.

They had a miscast first baseman make an error on a pickoff throw, leading to an unearned run. They had the same player thrown out at the plate on a hit to the outfield and later be unable to make a play on an infield grounder, allowing another run to score.

It all added up to a 5-0 victory for the White Sox at Wrigley Field before an announced crowd of 40,741.

The Cubs fell to 67-65, and they wasted a homestand against losing teams by going 5-5.

"It's tough; it just (stinks) to lose," said Dempster, who fell to 8-8 but lowered his ERA to 3.96. "I hate losing. We hate losing, and it's not a lot of fun. It seems like every time we've made a couple steps forward, we can't keep it going."

In a lot of ways, this loss pretty much symbolized the Cubs' disappointing 2009 season. They got a quality start from their pitcher but failed to hit and failed to make plays in the field.

The coup de grace came in the top of the eighth with the White Sox ahead only 1-0. Gordon Beckham led off with a single before A.J. Pierzynski lifted a high flyball to left, near the line.

Alfonso Soriano ran over and may have overrun the ball before slipping and falling. The ball hit the ground as Beckham scored and Pierzynski made it to third base.

"I think he overran it a little bit, and when he tried to plant, he went down," said manager Lou Piniella during a postgame news conference that lasted about 90 seconds.

Soriano maintained he didn't overrun it.

"I just slipped, and when I slipped, I lost my balance," said Soriano, who has 11 errors. "I tried to catch the ball. I lost my balance. I slipped because the grass was too big (long). I'm not making excuses but that's the first time it's happened that I slipped."

In perhaps another symbolic gesture, a fan in the bleachers tossed a towel onto the left-field grass as loud boos rained down on Soriano. If the Cubs haven't thrown in the towel, the fans most likely have, both literally and figuratively.

"It's not Sori's fault," third baseman Aramis Ramirez said. "The last time I checked, we didn't score any runs. If he makes that play, we lose 1-0."

The White Sox got their first unearned run in the third inning. After Chris Getz singled with two outs, Dempster fired a pickoff throw to Jake Fox, who was subbing for Derrek Lee. The ball hit off Fox' glove and bounded away for an error.

Alexei Ramirez then singled home Getz. The Sox got 2 more in the ninth, with 1 coming in when Fox couldn't make a play on a bouncer toward first with runners on first and third.

Dempster had every reason to be frustrated with everything that went on, but he played the team guy. However, both he and his manager agreed that the Cubs wasted a homestand that figured to be a last-gasp chance at the playoffs.

"We're 25 guys," Dempster said. "You vent your frustrations throughout the course of the season, throughout a course of the game. At the end of the day, you realize that everybody out there is competing as hard as they can. Guys are going to make mistakes. Errors are going to happen. Strikeouts are going to happen. Pitchers are going to walk guys.

"I'm sure we had hoped to play a little bit better. To have a little bit better record would have been nice. But like I said, if you keep looking back on missed opportunities, odds are we're just going to miss more in the future."

Concluded Piniella: "Five and five. We were hoping to do better."