LOS ANGELES. August 23, 2009. It was the final game of the season for the Cubs in L.A. and Dempster was in the driving seat. The question was would he be able to drive handfuls of unhitable pitches at the inform Dodgers whose machine appears to be headed towards the play off.

The first innings was a scoreless situation which the Cubs had the better of. They got two men on but D Lee grounded into a double play and next up Ramirez popped out. Ethier doubled for the Dodgers but Dempster got three out before they could score.

In the 2nd Jake Fox homer’d to give the early lead to the Cubs and when it was the Dodgers turn Aramis Ramirez erred.  As a result Kemp got to 2nd base. Abreu then singled to get the RBI and it was the same Kemp who got in for the score. Ouch! I hate it when walks or errors score. When the 2nd ended it was tied at 1-1.

The stalemate continued thru the 3rd, 4th and 5th.

In the 6th Aramis made amends for the error and hit a nice triple off a Billingsley pitch. Fukudome drove out a double (28) to get Aramis home. Jake Fox then singled to get Fukudome home. Fourth up Fontenot reached on a fielders choice but Fox was out. Koyie Hill then grounded into a double play. The Cubs at bat over. It was 3-1 for the Cubs. The measure of the pitching battle was that at this point the Cubs had 9 hits and the Dodgers only 3.

The Dodgers 6th at bat saw Ex-Cub Pierre, who was pinching for Billingsley, get a single. The news came thru that the St Louis were 5 runs to the good in San Diego in the 6th. Who cares! Not much the Cubs could do about that. They had to concentrate on their own game. And they did. Fontenot took a flying dive to stop a solidly hit Furcal ground ball and in the prone position tossed to Theriot to tagged out Pierre and then have a real shot at the double play but he wasn‘t successful. Ethier then grounded into a double play. End of 6th. Cubs still to the good 3-1.

I had a great feeling. Are the Cubs giving up on the season? No way!

McDonald replaced Billingsley to pitch the 7th. Theriot got a single but the Cubs didn’t add to the score.

Dempster, who had pitched 83 pitches, was left in the game by “The Guru” Lou. Twelve pitches later he had the three Dodgers up to bat out.

At the start of the 8th Ramirez. A. got a single for the Cubs. Fukudome was out at left field. Fox singled but Aramis was out. Hong Chih Kuo replaced McDonald and got the final Cub of the inning out. It remained 3-1.

When Dempster gave a walk to at the start of the Dodgers 8th Lou took his customary slow stroll out to the mound to pat Dempster in a manly way on the rear end to say job well done. He made a couple of fielding changes and brought Grabow in to finish the 8th. But Grabow gave Abreu a walk. Two on. Loretta grounded into a force out.

Then the Cubs got the breaks that have been a long time coming. Fontenot got Abreu out at 2nd base. It looked a close call. I’m not complaining. Next up Hudson hit a ball out just over 2nd base. It bounced and Martin got in to score. But the score didn’t count. Wally Bell, the 3rd base umpire was calling time out just before the ball was pitched. Good call although the home fans were unhappy. The replay will prove them wrong. Bell was waiving his hands in the air before the ball was pitched.

Castro, who was a pinch runner for Loretta, and Hudson were out on the next double play. The Cubs were 2 runs to the good at 3-1.

Although they didn’t score in the 9th the Cubs Koyie Hill did get a double. But I think that was because they were anxious to get to the Dodgers and Carlos Marmol closed out the game with a ground out and two strike outs. Nice! No sweep here! Who says the Cubs are throwing in the towel on the season?

A.L.

Chicago Baseball Insider