MLB Playoffs | Diamondbacks sweep, deny Cubs again

CHICAGO — Short on stars but brimming with young talent, the Arizona Diamondbacks pulled off a sweet playoff sweep and celebrated like October regulars.

For the anguished Chicago Cubs, it's another cry of "Wait 'Til Next Year."

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 series.

Next stop for the baby-faced Diamondbacks: a surprising trip to the National League Championship Series.

"Who would have thought that at the beginning of spring training or the season? I'm sure there were a lot of people thinking maybe .500 baseball," Eric Byrnes said during a wild champagne celebration in the clubhouse. "We have guys who are ready to win. We've already exceeded expectations so far, and we're going to continue to do so."

The Diamondbacks get four days to rest before hosting the winner of the Rockies-Phillies series Thursday.

Showing no jitters before a raucous crowd at Wrigley Field, the Diamondbacks hit three homers and turned four double plays to back another strong pitching performance from Hernandez and three relievers.

Byrnes and Stephen Drew, who finished the series 7 for 14, also homered as Arizona extended the Cubs' streak of futility without a World Series championship to 99 years.

"The young guys are taking us where we've gotten. We don't do it without a concerted effort from everybody on our team," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We can't rely on three or four guys to shoulder the load. We've got to get it from multiple guys every day, and our younger guys showed up big."

Even a return to Wrigley Field 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," Melvin said.

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."

Chicago's best chance might have come in the opener, when manager Lou Piniella made a move that will be questioned for years. He pulled Carlos Zambrano after six innings and only 85 pitches with the score 1-all because he planned to bring his ace back on three days' rest in Game 4.

The Cubs never got that far.

Chicago went from worst-to-first in Piniella's first season as manager, and the team's long-suffering fans were ecstatic after a late surge to the NL Central crown. But just when they began to get excited about ending the championship drought, the Cubs went down in a first-round sweep.

"This is just a start, fellas. We're going to get better with this," Piniella said.

The punchless Cubs managed only six runs in the series. They went 2 for 23 with runners in scoring position, including 0 for 9 on Saturday.

Chicago's RBI leader, Aramis Ramirez, finished the series 0 for 12. Alfonso Soriano went 2 for 14.

"Hard to win that way," 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.

"They had runners on base every inning," Young said. "We got lucky and got out of some double-play situations. ... If we don't have those, the game would be pretty different for us."

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 Saturday.

"They really played well, and they should feel good about what they did," Piniella said. "We're disappointed, but at the same time I'm really proud of our players. We got off to a slow start this year and put together a good run that culminated in getting in the postseason."