Oh what a wild, wild west

Unlike those Chicago fans who packed light for their last-minute flights to catch the game in Phoenix, the Cubs arrived in Arizona with 99 years worth of baggage.

Crammed away in the steamer trunk of heart-breaking memories are Leon Durham's mitt, the bats of Will Clark and Steve Garvey, a foul ball from 2003, a 38-year-old black cat from Shea Stadium, Babe Ruth's called shot and a goat.

They arrived in a hostile environment. The Wild West has been the place where Cubs' postseason dreams have gone to die. The Cubs never have won a post-season game west of Clark Street, going 0-forever against the San Diego Padres in 1984 and the San Francisco Giants in 1989.

The Donner Party had a more successful road trip to the West than any post-season Cubs squad.

But Wednesday night, the Cubs rolled into Chase Field loaded with high expectations for a playoff showdown with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Instead, the Cubs were outgunned 3-1 to lose the first of this best-of-five series.

Gunslinging pitchers Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs and the Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb were packing heat in the 91-degree night air. Each gave it his best shot. Both threw nothing but blanks for the first three innings, with Zambrano's bat providing a leadoff double and a seed of hope that wilted in the desert. Then Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew blasted a Big Z offering for a 432-foot home run in the fourth inning. The Cubs answered with Ryan Theriot's chip shot over the head of the third baseman to score the tying run in the sixth inning, but Webb dodged a bullet by striking out Zambrano to end the threat.

For fans who listened to the WGN radio broadcast of the game, Ron Santo's cries of anguish and ecstasy announced the news a full seven seconds before the delayed cable television signal on TBS delivered the visuals. That only delayed the pain.

Zambrano tamed the Diamondbacks hitters and seemed destined to write his version of "How the West Was Won." Instead, the Cubs turned to the bullpen and ended up penning the "Tale of Two Carloses." Carlos Zambrano yielded to reliever Carlos Marmol. Before the TV announcers learned how to pronounce Marmol's name, D-backs rookie Mark Reynolds had hit the go-ahead homer.

"Well, I didn't expect that," said a dejected Santo, who, after a half-century of bleeding Cubbie blue, still seems genuinely surprised by his team's misfortunes.

Cubs' slugger Alfonso Soriano was given a chance in the bottom of the ninth to come to his team's rescue, representing the tying run. Soriano pulled the trigger, but came up short with a groundball to shortstop, and the game was over.

The loss threw another shovel of dirt on the grave of Cubs' hopes out West. In 1984, the Cubs joyfully roughed up the San Diego Padres in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Those Cubs opened the playoffs in Wrigley with a 13-0 romp over the hapless Padres, with pitcher Rick Sutcliffe getting the win and smacking a Zambranoesque homer.

The Cubs won the second game 4-2 behind Steve Trout and had future Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley ready for the sweep in San Diego. Instead, the Padres pounded out a 7-1 victory. Steve Garvey hit a walk-off homer to win Game 4, and in the final game, Rick Sutcliffe surrendered a 3-0 lead, as Leon Durham (who had homered earlier) let a ball trickle under his glove for an error. That ignited the Padres offense and doomed the Cubs to a 6-3 exit short of a World Series.

In 1989, Greg Maddux lost the opening game of the playoffs at Wrigley, but the Cubs rallied to win Game 2. It was even when they headed to San Francisco. Then they dropped three straight games and got out of town before the earthquake hit.

In that lost series in San Fran, Mark Grace had the hot bat for Chicago, but the Giants' Will "The Thrill" Clark shot down the Cubs' hopes. This year, broadcaster Mark Grace is on the Diamondbacks' payroll and shilling for the snakes at pep rallies.

How things have changed. Unfortunately, the Cubs' Wild West fortunes haven't.

For now, the battle cry remains, "Wait 'Til Tomorrow."

But if the Cubs want to keep alive that dream of making it to the 2007 World Series, they are going to have to win at least one game in Arizona or find room in that suitcase for another broken dream souvenir of a gloomy trip out West.