Cubs' blunders leave no wonders in defeat

Hit batsman scores winner in 11th; team falls to 2-12 in 1-run games

LOS ANGELES -- Finally, the answer to all these one-run losses the Cubs keep suffering:

Dumb baseball.

They have All-Star hitters and All-Star pitchers, and they generally catch the ball -- even in that outfield that was supposed to be so shaky.

But they have not added up to a good team, and their 2-12 record in one-run games is fast becoming proof. And the cause for a lot of it was on display Sunday in a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A poor decision on the bases, a poor choice for an 0-2 pitch that got creamed -- for the second day in a row -- and poor defensive judgment late underscored the problem.

Dumb baseball.

''It just seems like every day, if we score eight runs, we give up nine. Or we score one, we give up two,'' first baseman Derrek Lee said. ''I don't have answers. It's odd almost.''

Some of it's odd. Much of it's dumb. At least on Sunday it was.

Catcher Michael Barrett all but said it when he described why he made the final out of the second inning trying to steal third base.

Standing at second, Barrett watched Randy Wolf throw four breaking pitches to strike out Angel Pagan and thought he had the catcher's sign. So when he saw the same curveball sign with Cesar Izturis batting, he took off. Only it was a fastball, and Russell Martin had an easy play on Barrett.

Catchers and pitchers often change the signs with a runner at second. Of all the Cubs, that probably should occur to Barrett.

''Bottom line was I overthought the whole process,'' he said. ''I should have just let Lou [Piniella] make those decisions and not try to do too much.''

But the biggest brain cramp came in the eighth, when Piniella went to struggling left-hander Scott Eyre after the Dodgers had announced left-handed pinch hitter Andre Ethier to lead off.

The Cubs had just scored on a single by Lee for a 1-0 lead -- though they failed to tack on after that despite having runners at first and second with none out.

Enter Eyre for his first appearance in a week. He looked great for two pitches -- a pair of sliders to bury Ethier in an 0-2 count. Then he threw another. And hung it. And Ethier launched it over the wall in right.

One day earlier, Carlos Zambrano threw a fat 0-2 pitch that Wilson Betemit hit over the fence and called it ''a rookie mistake.''

Sunday, an angry Eyre sat on the bench staring into the outfield after being replaced following the home run, and Piniella approached.

''He walked over and made a comment -- and it's a smart comment,'' Eyre said. ''I made two good sliders away. Why not stand the guy up, throw a pitch -- not hit him -- but throw a pitch inside? And then I don't have to be so perfect with the next pitch. It's funny that it's that simple.''

Eyre has been in the big leagues since 1997.

The Dodgers scored the winner when Carlos Marmol hit Juan Pierre with a pitch with the bases loaded and none out.

But the runner who scored, Ramon Martinez, had given the Cubs an out earlier in the inning by falling down well off second base taking his secondary lead on a pitch -- and Barrett couldn't take the out.

Instead of taking at least a couple of steps toward Martinez to force him to commit, Barrett fired behind him to second as Martinez jumped to his feet, sprinted the other way and beat the throw to third.

''You've got to come out,'' Piniella said. ''You can't throw the ball across the infield like that because what happened is going to happen.''

Said Barrett: ''It was a heads-up play on his part, and next time I'll run at him.''

Barrett has been in the majors since 1998.

These Cubs have a lot of talented players, and they've played hard, lost hard and been accountable.

But they've also played themselves out of games they should have won -- leaving them almost constantly a run short.