Dempster blames himself for not executing

Ryan Dempster had no trouble analyzing his disastrous outing Wednesday night at Wrigley Field in Game 1 of the National League division series.

"I just couldn't throw it over the plate for whatever reason," Dempster said.

And it cost the Cubs dearly in a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers that now has fans of the North Siders thinking something awful is about to happen again.

How could they not? The Cubs are down 1-0 in a short best-of-five series that they learned last fall can be over with in a blink of an eye.

"We're all right," Dempster said. "We'll be ready to go (Thursday in Game 2). We'll come out and win a game. You don't have to win all five. You just have to win three."

Dempster walked seven before leaving in the fifth inning after walking the bases full and letting James Loney take him deep with a grand slam to left-center.

Dempster walked seven batters in the whole month of September in 30 innings. He walked seven in a game for only the third time in his career - both times previously as a 22-year-old with the Florida Marlins in 1999.

"It's frustrating because I was prepared mentally and physically to go out there," Dempster said. "I had game plan and I didn't execute. You can have all the game plans in the world and all the right answers, but if you don't execute and put the ball where you need to put it, then you're not going to get the results you want."

Dempster blamed himself for being too fine.

"I could have been a little bit more aggressive and throw the ball over the plate a little more," Dempster said. "With the stuff I had tonight, just throw the ball. We have a really good defense with guys who play exceptional in the field and I didn't give myself or them a chance to prove it. It's unfortunate because I haven't done it all year."

Dempster survived a bases-loaded jam in the third inning after 2 walks and a single, but he had no such luck in the fifth. Loney's two-out grand slam came on a 1-2 pitch and wiped out a 2-0 Cubs lead.

"Even as bad as it was and as erratic as I was, I had a chance to get out of that inning," Dempster said. "I was ahead in the count and just hung a splitter a little bit and he hit it out. I didn't execute and he did, and that was the difference in the game right there."

The Dodgers preached patience in their game plan against Dempster, and it worked.

"I don't think he was missing my a lot," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "Our game is to make the pitcher work and be patient."

Now it's up to Carlos Zambrano to pitch well Thursday in what has become the biggest game of the season for the Cubs, who don't want to go to Dodger Stadium on Saturday down 2-0.

"He's the ace and we have a lot of confidence in him," Alfonso Soriano said. "He knows what he has to do."