Dodgers extend Cubs' World Series drought

Rich Harden says he felt the energy level of baseball fans in northern Chicago come down a bit earlier this week.

On Saturday, the Canadian right-hander watched as James Loney, Huroki Kuroda and the Los Angeles Dodgers dashed the playoff hopes for their beloved Cubs, posting a 3-1 win and three-game sweep in the National League Division Series.

"We had a lot of people doubting us all year," Dodgers first-year manager Joe Torre said. "We struggled to find out who we were for a long period of time."

It marked the second straight year in which Chicago has failed to register a victory in Round 1 of the post-season, after falling 3-0 to Arizona a year ago.

It also means Harden and the Cubs, who have dropped nine consecutive playoff games, will enter the 2009 season without a World Series title since 1908.

"We have the best team in the league, and we struggle in the playoffs," said Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano, who struck out to end Saturday's contest. "We did not play good, like a team. That's the reason we didn't win.

The Cubs' latest flameout has to be among the most galling, considering they fell flat against the Dodgers after their best regular season since 1945.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, will face either the Philadelphia Phillies or Milwaukee Brewers in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series, starting Thursday, after securing its first playoff series win in 20 years.

Kuroda masterful in playoff debut

Loney doubled in a pair of runs with two out in the first inning and Kuroda tossed 6 1/3 shutout innings in the first post-season outing of his career.

While the Cubs clinched the NL Central Division on Sept. 20 and won a league-high 97 games, the Dodgers had a losing record as recently as early September before turning things around behind left-fielder Manny Ramirez, who was acquired from Boston in a three-team trade on July 31.

Ramirez propelled Los Angeles into the playoffs, batting .396 and slugging .743 in 53 games with 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in. He had five hits in 10 at-bats in the NLDS, including two homers.

The Dodgers carried a 17-win September into the playoffs and dominated Chicago in all facets of the game, outscoring the NL's best team 20-6 in three starts. The Cubs led the league with 855 runs in the regular season.

The Dodgers' three starting pitchers — righties Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley and Kuroda — allowed just three runs in 19 innings against the Cubs' predominantly right-handed lineup that managed just five hits in 28 chances with runners in scoring position.

"We just didn't hit, you have to score runs," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who had the 2010 option in his contract picked up on Tuesday. "We had opportunities and you have to take advantage of them. This is six games I've managed now in the post-season and we have scored just 12 runs. That doesn't get it done."

The NL West champion Dodgers, who won 23 of 32 home games after the all-star break, also took two games at Chicago's Wrigley Field, where the Cubs won 55 of 81 games this season.

Chicago was also weak in the field, committing six errors, including Harden's throwing gaffe on a pickoff attempt in the third inning of Game 3.

Harden exits in 5th inning

Acquired in a July trade from Oakland, the Victoria hurler was assigned the task of keeping the Cubs' playoff hopes alive on Saturday.

Harden, who went 5-1 with a 1.77 earned-run average in 12 starts as a Cub, was tagged with all three runs in the loss.

He pitched out of a jam in the third inning but his night ended with one out in the fifth after he walked Rafael Furcal, gave up a double to Russell Martin of East York, Ont., and gave Ramirez an intentional pass.

Left-hander Sean Marshall was summoned from the bullpen and induced Andre Ethier and Loney to ground out to end the inning.

Carlos Marmol and Neal Cotts followed with 2 2/3 shutout frames with four strikeouts, but were bested by the Dodgers trio of Kuroda, Cory Wade and Jonathan Broxton, who struck out three of the four batters he faced for his first save of the series.

Kuroda, a 33-year-old rookie who signed a three-year, $35.3-million US contract with L.A. last winter, scattered six hits before being relieved by Wade with two on and one out in the seventh inning. Kuroda never appeared in a playoff game during 11 seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Japanese Central League.

The Cubs put two runners aboard with two outs in both the first and third innings, but Kuroda worked out of trouble each time, retiring Geovany Soto to end the first and Aramis Ramirez to finish the third.

Soto doubled to open the fourth and took third on an infield out. But after Soto stayed at third on another groundout, the Dodgers walked Ryan Theriot intentionally before Kuroda fanned Harden.

"I must say I didn't have all my stuff today," Kuroda said through a translator. "But watching those two games in Chicago and the fans cheering, I rode the wave along with the fans."

Harden and Game 1 loser Ryan Dempster of Gibsons, B.C., did make major league history Saturday as the first Canadian tandem to start in a playoff series as teammates.

The three wins boosted Torre's post-season total to 79 — the most in baseball history. His first 76 came in the last 12 years as skipper of the New York Yankees, including 16 in four World Series triumphs.