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Diamondbacks finish off Cubs

Jose Valverde, center, and teammates celebrate at Wrigley Field. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Rick Gano Associated Press
Jose Valverde, center, and teammates celebrate at Wrigley Field. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

CHICAGO – A sweet sweep for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Another cry of “Wait Til Next Year” from the crestfallen Chicago Cubs.

Chris Young homered on the game’s first pitch, Livan Hernandez wriggled out of several serious jams and Arizona beat the Cubs 5-1 Saturday night to complete a three-game sweep of their first-round playoff series.

Short on stars and attention – but not pitching and defense – the young Diamondbacks are headed to the N.L. Championship Series for the second time in the franchise’s 10-year history. The previous time they made it this far they went all the way, beating the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

“Probably shocked a lot of people, but this team’s been doing it all year,” Eric Byrnes said.

Now, the Diamondbacks get four days to rest before hosting Colorado in Game 1 of the NLCS on Thursday. Colorado advanced by completing a sweep of Philadelphia later in the evening, edging the Phillies 2-1.

As for the Cubs, they’re still searching for their first World Series title since 1908. Even a return to Wrigley Field and its raucous fans couldn’t get Chicago’s bats out of a series-long slumber.

“We knew that we’d have to try to take them out of it and take the momentum away, and Chris Young’s home run in the first inning went a long way with that,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “Just a great place to play baseball.”

Call it curses or bad luck or whatever, but on this sultry October night the Diamondbacks showed what was obvious since the series began – they were the better team, even though they had only four players on the first-round roster with postseason experience.

“These guys are as talented a young group as I’ve ever seen,” Byrnes said. “It’s been fun to watch the maturation and watch them grow up.”

Byrnes and Stephen Drew also homered for the N.L. West champion Diamondbacks, the first team to have a league’s best record and worst batting average since the 1906 Chicago White Sox.

Forget the stats, though, these kids showed they can play under pressure with a sound and thorough thumping of the punchless Cubs, who managed only six runs in the series.

“Hard to win that way,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed it. What can I say?”

Hernandez, the 1997 World Series MVP for Florida, gave Arizona another lift. He allowed five hits and a run in six innings, overcoming five walks. The Diamondbacks’ defense turned four double plays, three while Hernandez was pitching.

Arizona also got solid starts from Brandon Webb and Doug Davis in the series, and the bullpen wasn’t charged with a run. Tony Pena, Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde finished up with stellar relief.