Johnson does all he can to help 'Demp'

The team with the best record in baseball was no match Saturday for the Cubs, who climbed two games above .500 with a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers before 41,153 sun-splashed fans, the largest crowd of the season.

A second straight victory over the team that vanquished them from the postseason last year made it even better.

"It feels good, obviously with what happened last year," said third baseman Mike Fontenot, who doubled, tripled, drove in 2 runs and scored once. "We want to win ballgames, and we want to win ballgames against them (especially)."

Fontenot's second-inning double that one-hopped the wall in center field scored Reed Johnson, who had singled and stolen second.

It was all the support Ryan Dempster needed, as he raised his record to 4-3 and lowered his ERA to 4.48 from 4.99.

Angel Guzman and Aaron Heilman each worked a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout, the first this season against the Dodgers, whose 34-17 record is far and away the best in the majors.

Dempster was lifted after 99 pitches as a precautionary measure because of a nagging blister.

"We didn't want to take any chances with that," manager Lou Piniella said. "We're watching it really carefully, and if we need a few more days between his next start we can always put him at the tail end of the rotation."

Johnson produced the Cubs' second run when he surprised the Dodgers with an exquisitely placed two-out bunt down the third-base line that scored Ryan Theriot from third.

"I'm not smart enough to design that," Piniella said with a chuckle. "That much I can tell you. He did that on his own. He caught the third baseman back, and he laid down a perfect, perfect bunt."

Johnson's solo homer in the seventh completed the Cubs' scoring, and his 3-for-3 day at the plate, which also included a walk, raised his average from .239 to .270.

He said the 40-foot bunt was a bigger play than his third homer, which carried deep into the left-field bleachers.

"Just because of what the score was," Johnson said. "To put us up 2-0 with the way 'Demp' was pitching; any time you see a guy out there dealing like that, every run is really precious."

Dempster allowed just 3 hits and 1 walk as the Dodgers never got a runner past second base against him. The performance was in stark contrast to Dempster's previous outing Monday. In a 10-8 loss, he lasted a season-low 4 innings, allowed 6 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks and became the first Cub to attack the Gatorade dispenser in the dugout.

"I'd like to believe Monday (was) the exception, not the norm," Dempster said. "I just tried to put that behind me. You work in between starts just committing to throwing pitches one at a time. Just try to focus on the small picture. Just execute a pitch at a time.

"It's easy when the guys go out and put up a bunch of runs like that and play the defense like they did."

It was the perfect formula on a perfect day for baseball - at least for the Cubs.

"It was one of our better games of the year," Piniella said. "Good starting pitching, good relief and some good hitting."

<p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Bob LeGere's Cubs tracker</b></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">In the clutch: The Cubs were a dismal 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the first two games against the Dodgers, but they went 3-for-9 Saturday while scoring 7 runs. "For us (hitting) has been contagious the wrong way," Reed Johnson said. "Hopefully we can get things going in the right direction."</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">Slump buster: Milton Bradley had 3 singles in 4 at-bats Sunday, raising his average from .204 to .223, and he's hitting .385 in his last eight home games, starting on May 12.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">On the way up: Mike Fontenot, whose average had dipped below .200, is up to .232 after going 9-for-20 in his last seven games. "Today he delivered big time against a left-handed starter," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "It's good to see."</p>