Dempster goes the distance to blank Pirates

It might be too late for this year, but nobody wants to talk about next year on the Cubs.

So they plug along. Ryan Dempster turned in the Cubs' second complete-game shutout in less than a week Tuesday night, blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 at Wrigley Field.

Dempster's outing came on the heels of Carlos Zambrano going the distance Friday to beat the Giants 3-0.

"He inspired me," said Dempster, who improved to 11-8 with a 3.51 ERA after throwing 120 pitches. "That's kind of part of it, right, when you see one of your fellow starters do that?

"They always talk about positive competition or whatever. You see guys go out there and go through a lineup. He was a lot more dominating than I was today.

"I just kept trying to make pitches and was trying to go out there and throw as many innings as I can. I know we have a doubleheader (today) and a lot of guys will probably get used. It was fun."

It has been fun for the Cubs lately. They turned in a 6-4 record on the just-concluded road trip and assured themselves of a winning season by improving to 82-74.

The Cubs have posted at least three winning seasons in a row for the first time since 1967-72.

Even though they faced a tragic number of 1 for the wild card entering Tuesday, they said to a man it's important to finish strong.

"I think finishing strong is important going into next year," Dempster said. "Just because you're out of it doesn't mean you give up. We've all said since things turned for the worse that we're still playing with a lot of pride.

"When we go out there, we compete, no matter what the situation all the way to the last day of the year. I think that's real important."

Manager Lou Piniella sounded similar sentiments before the game.

"What we need for next year is to win as many games as we can here the rest of the year, finish as strong as we can," said Piniella, deflecting a question about 2010. "Look, we need to stay healthier next year. That's really the biggest thing. The people that we have here, keep them healthy and keep them on the field.

"If you would have looked at the list of players this year that have missed a month or more, it's astounding. We've had our lineup on the field four days out of 162 games. That's probably the biggest wish list that we have."

The Cubs took advantage of a sloppy Pirates team, which made 3 errors behind former Cub Kevin Hart. Jeff Baker had a 2-run double in the 3-run first after an error on Hart.

In the fourth, the Cubs scored 3 more (2 unearned), with Derrek Lee hitting a 2-run single, giving him 111 RBI. Lee later left after fouling a ball off his toe.

But the night belonged to Dempster.

"How about that? Two complete-game shutouts in four games for us," Piniella said. "Really good pitching. But tonight, Dempster had all his pitches working. Good split-finger, nice slider and good life on his fastball.

"He's gotten better and better as the year's worn down. He's pitched basically like he pitched most of last year."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p> <p class="News">Cubs 6, Pirates 0</p> <p class="News"><b>Pure quality: </b>Ryan Dempster turned in the Cubs' 93rd quality start with a complete-game shutout. The Cubs are 60-33 in quality-start games, and the starters have a sparkling 1.98 ERA in those starts.</p> <p class="News"><b>On-base machine:</b> Leadoff man Ryan Theriot walked four times and singled once, raising his on-base percentage to .347. "I made a few changes, no doubt about that, just kind of going back to my roots," Theriot said.</p> <p class="News"><b>He does it again:</b> Sam Fuld tied his career high with 3 hits. He established that mark Friday in San Francisco.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=325244">Gregg wants to pitch, but Cubs play it safe<span class="date"> [9/29/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>