Dodgers-Cubs game 1 recap

Ryan Dempster had a rough night to say the least. He had location issues start to trouble him in the third and in the end it would end up burning him and the Cubs. Dempster entered the game untouchable at home with a 14-3 record at Wrigley. But the consistency that helped him shut down opponents in the Windy City was not there tonight as he lasted only four and two thirds, walked seven, gave up four runs on four hits, and struck out only two.

He tempted fate twice, and when you tempt fate enough it will come to haunt you. In the third he loaded up the bases by giving up two walks and a hustle single to Manny Ramirez, but fought off the Dodger bats by getting Russell Martin to fly out to left and striking out Andre Ethier.

In the fifth inning the location issues continued with Dempster, leading him to load the bases again. This time on three walks. Then came tonight's hero, James Loney, who came up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Dempster got a quick jump on Loney, running the count to 1-2, but then lightening struck. It struck in form of a beautifully hit grand slam to center field which was helped by the wind. The grand slam put the Dodgers ahead 4-2, it was also L.A.'s first in postseason play since Dusty Baker accomplished the feat on Oct. 5, 1977.

The Cubs scored earlier in the second on a two-run home run by Mark DeRosa. A fly to right, also helped greatly by the prevailing winds from left field. But the grand slam by Loney, silenced the already eerily quiet Cub fans for good. The Cubs would not come close to coming back in this one.

Derek Lowe pitched consistently through 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, striking out 6, and walking one. Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin both added solo home runs. The other run was added after Blake Dewitt was singled in by Casey Blake and his awesome beard. The blast that Manny hit was his 25th postseason home run, an MLB record. He also hit it on a bad pitch, one that was at the level of his shoe laces. A pitch most hitters would pass on and it would be a good idea to do so. But Manny's mix of power, timing, and balance sent the ball to left center. Pretty impressive and yet inexplicable in my opinion.

For me the best part of this game came in the bottom of the ninth, when Greg Maddux entered the game in relief of Jonathan Broxton. The Cubs fans rose up and gave him a nice ovation. He went through the inning rather quickly in typical Maddux fashion, with two ground outs and a line out to first by Alphonso Soriano(who finished the game 0-5). It was just an inning of work, but it still gets me excited to have him on the team. It also seemed like the perfect ending to a great game one.

The Dodgers took away home field advantage tonight, winning 7-2. They now lead the series 1-0, and teams that won Game 1 of the NLDS have gone 23-3 in the Wild Card era. The next game is tomorrow at 9:30 and can be seen on TBS.