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Loney tagged it, driving it deep into the bleachers in center and giving the Blue a 4-2 lead. From the moment Loney sucked the air out of Wrigley, it was all Dodgers.  There was Manny Ramirez's solo shot leading off the seventh on a Sean Marshall breaking ball that damn near bounced, creating some great copy and giving LA a 5-2 lead.  There was Russell Martin's solo shot in the ninth.  And don't forget solid work- monumental, even- from Lowe (6 IP, 2 ER, none after the DeRosa homer) and the bullpen (3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER).  The box score won't.

The win not only gives the Dodgers a huge mathematical advantage- in the Wild Card era, teams winning Game 1 of the NLDS have won the series 23 of 26 times- but a psychological one as well.  Seriously.  Read this bad boy from Gordon Wittenmyer at the Chicago Sun Times and tell us you don't think people in the Windy City are worried the sky is falling.  A taste, for those who don't like to click:

"...Uh-oh.

If this is what the rest of the Cubs' postseason is going to look like, it's going to be a short playoff run.

And a long century.

The worst fears of the Cubs' high-expectations October were realized on a cool, cloudy night at Wrigley Field, and it took only five innings for the gut punch to sink in. And only another inning or two for that familiar Cubs queasiness to spread through the agitated masses in the stands, with the boos growing throughout a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

So much for Ryan Dempster's dominance at home. So much for Cubbie swagger. So much for home-field advantage and being World Series favorites.

Six months of rolling to the best record in the NL and putting together the best-looking postseason Cubs roster in three generations suddenly lands on the broad and cranky shoulders of the mercurial Carlos Zambrano.

Uh-oh..."

Or this less-than-sunny offering from Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune.

History is, as Bart Simpson once said about show business, a hideous bitch goddess.  Seriously, though, they have reason to worry.  The Cubs are still confident (What are they going to do, just fold up the tents and call it a series?) but while they're not getting ahead of themselves (they're counting to three, not one) so are the Dodgers.  And it's that fun, special Manny confidence expressed by the slugger but reflected by all his teammates.  As Bill Plaschke notes, the Dodgers have a lot of reasons to feel good about themselves right now.  And the Cubs, as Steve Dilbeck of the Daily News notes, ought to realize now (if they didn't before) that the Blue are a solid squad. 

The Dodgers don't know yet who will start Game 4, but it's clear that Takashi Saito has regained his closer role from Jonathan Broxton.

Sucks to be a Wrigley bleacher bum. 

A great rundown of the game from The Cub Reporter.

Postgame verbiage from Lowe and Manny.

One man puts Loney's hit into perspective.  Surely you experienced many of the same emotions.

TONIGHT'S GAME: Chad Billingsley is treating it like any other start and keeping his routine, but of course we all know better.  For the Cubs, they just want to know which Carlos Zambrano they're going to get.  The Blue would prefer the August and September model, thank you very much.