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Los Angeles Dodgers try to become the latest team to add to the
Chicago Cubs' misery this evening when they go for a three-game sweep in the best-of-five National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers pushed the Cubs to the brink of elimination in Game 2 on Thursday, as Russell Martin's three-run double highlighted a five-run second inning which was aided by a pair of Chicago errors, and Manny Ramirez homered for a second straight night, carrying Los Angeles to a 10-3 win.
Ramirez drove in two runs and Rafael Furcal went 3-for-6 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored for the Dodgers, who are on the verge of capturing their first postseason series since 1988 when they beat Oakland to win the World Series.
They came into this series with just one win in their previous 13 playoff games.
Chad Billingsley (1-0), making his first career playoff start, had seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 effective innings, as he was charged with five hits and a run.
It was another case of postseason futility for the Cubs, who committed four errors on the way to their eighth consecutive playoff loss since their infamous collapse during the 2003 NLCS against the Florida Marlins. Of course, it has been 100 years since the franchise's last World Series title in 1908.
Carlos Zambrano (0-1) was touched for six hits and seven runs, but just three of those were earned, in 6 1/3 innings. He also had seven strikeouts against two walks.
The only team to win a division series after losing the first two games at home was the New York Yankees against Oakland in 2001. Current Dodgers manager Joe Torre was at the helm of the Yankees then.
There have been four teams that have come back from 0-2 deficits to win division series since baseball introduced its current wild card format in 1995, but they have all been AL teams. An NL club has never come back from an 0-2 hole in division series play. In fact 13 of the 16 teams that have been in that predicament have been swept.
For the Cubs to break that trend they will first need a big effort tonight from right-hander Rich Harden, who was 5-1 with a 1.97 ERA with the Cubs after being acquired from Oakland. Harden, though, walked 11 batters in 11 innings over his final two starts of the season.
Harden, who has never faced the Dodgers, lost his only other postseason start, falling to the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 ALCS.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, will hand the ball to Japanese righty Hiroki Kuroda, who was up-and-down in his first major league season, posting a 9-10 mark to go along with a 3.73 ERA.
Kuroda was, however, 1-1 this season against the Cubs, allowing just an earned run in 15 1/3 innings of those outings.
Chicago manager Lou Piniella will shake up his lineup a bit for Game 3, as struggling outfielder Kosuke Fukudome is expected to be benched in favor of Reed Johnson. Fukudome, batting .173 since August 2, went 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the first two games.
Cubs' outfielder Alfonso Soriano has also continued to struggle. He is just 1- for-9 in this series after managing two hits in 14 at-bats last year when his team was swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
These two storied franchises have never met in the postseason, but Chicago won five of the seven regular season matchups between the clubs this year.
Game 4 of this series, if necessary, will be played on Sunday.
