-It didn’t take long for the Dodgers to silence Wrigley smashing three homers in a come from behind 7-2 Game One win earlier tonight. Given a two-run lead on Mark DeRosa’s two-run job, Ryan Dempster didn’t come close to duplicating his home success which saw him go 14-3 during the regular season. Instead, a brutal loss of control saw the former Cub closer walk a season high seven including loading the bases in the fateful fifth. He needed just one more out though to escape but couldn’t get James Loney, who barely stayed alive just getting a piece of a splitter.

Unfortunately for Cub fans, TBS analyst Ron Darling was right on the money indicating that continuing to rely on the splitter could result in a pitch being up which was eventually what happened allowing Loney to get his bat around on one for a go-ahead grand slam to dead center. A couple of innings prior, a pair of walks and a single had seen Dempster escape by fanning Andre Ethier. But he lost the plate against him and Loney made him pay the price. If you continue putting batters on, it’s usually a recipe for disaster.

The Cubs didn’t do much with Derek Lowe, who settled in nicely working six solid innings of two-run ball scattering seven hits while issuing just one walk and K-ing six including an overmatched Alfonso Soriano twice to boos. Soriano continued to struggle in the postseason turning in an 0-for-5 performance leaving three on which won’t get it done this series. They need him to get on base and wreak havoc.

Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez did as expected finishing with a pair of hits, a walk and a solo blast to left center golfing a Sean Marshall offering 20 rows up. Casey Blake added an eighth inning RBI single and Dodger catcher Russell Martin went yard in the ninth to close the scoring.

Joe Torre’s pen tossed three scoreless closing it out to take a 1-0 series lead putting the pressure squarely on the shoulders of Cubs Game 2 starter Carlos Zambrano, who will be battling 16-game winner Chad Billingsley. They desperately need a big performance from Big Z. We’ll see if he’s up to the challenge.

-In the third and final opening game of the night, the Red Sox and Angels are scoreless in the second with Jon Lester taking on John Lackey. Can the Halos finally get a win over Boston in October. We’ll have a better answer by the end of the night.

-I realize Brad Lidge escaped by the hair on his chinny chin chin notching the save stranding the tying runners in scoring position but would it have killed Charlie Manuel to stick with his ace Cole Hamels, who dominated the first eight innings against the Brewers permitting two hits and fanning nine on 101 pitches? What’s wrong with allowing a big starter to finish what they started?

-WFAN’s Chris Carlin says the Yankees rewarding Brian Cashman with three more years aren’t about winning World Series anymore and how can we argue given the Yankee GM’s recent track record. Until proven otherwise, the Yanks are heading the wrong way with Boston, Tampa and maybe even Toronto making the AL East baseball’s toughest division.

-There’s been a lot of discussion about this but if the Mets trade either pair of 25 year-old stars David Wright or Jose Reyes, they’ve lost their minds as much as some of their fans along with Mr. Know It All Mike Francesa.