Dodgers slam Cubs in opener
NL DIVISION SERIES / DODGERS 7, CHICAGO 2
James Loney hits grand slam, Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin and homers and Dodgers win second playoff game since 1988.
CHICAGO -- James Loney's grand-slam home run led the Dodgers to a 7-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday in the opening game of the National League Divisional Series.
The victory at Wrigley Field was a big boost in the Dodgers' hope of getting a fast start on the road in the best-of-five series, which resumes with Game 2 here Thursday night.
Loney's blast on an 0-2 pitch with two out in the fifth inning off Cubs starter Ryan Dempster came after Dempster had walked Rafael Furcal, Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier to load the bases.
Dempster, a 17-game winner in the regular season, walked seven Dodgers, winners of the NL West.
Los Angeles rocked the Cubs' relief pitchers as well, with Ramirez hitting a solo homer to the left-center bleachers in the seventh inning.
In the eighth, Blake DeWitt tripled and then came home on a single to center by Casey Blake. And Russell Martin hit a bases-empty home run in the ninth inning.
Dodgers starter Derek Lowe, meanwhile, gave Los Angeles a solid six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits.
The Cubs got the runs when Jim Edmonds singled in the second inning and Mark DeRosa followed with a homer to right field.
Chicago, which was 5-2 against the Dodgers in the regular season, had the best record in the National League and won the NL Central Division.
The raucous crowd at Wrigley on Tuesday hoped the Cubs would take the first step toward winning their first World Series title in 100 years.
But the crowd grew increasingly silent in the latter innings as the Dodgers kept adding insurance runs.
And four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux -- who pitched for the Cubs in the late-1980s and early '90s -- made a rare relief appearance and retired the Cubs in the ninth to secure the win.
james.peltz@latimes.com
