NLCS Close to clinching, Cubs pummeled

The Marlins' rally forced tonight's deciding Game 7 at Wrigley Field.
CHICAGO (AP) -- Moises Alou, Alex Gonzalez and the Chicago Cubs had it right in their hands -- the ball, the game and a trip to the World Series.
And then it all slipped away, and left the Wrigley Field crowd blaming one of its own.
In a startling eighth-inning turnaround, the Florida Marlins took advantage of Alou's run-in with a fan on a fly ball and an error by Gonzalez to score eight runs for an 8-3 victory Tuesday night, sending the NL championship series to a Game 7.
"Hopefully, he won't have to regret it for the rest of his life," Alou said of the fan.
Mark Prior, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs cruised into the eighth with a 3-0 lead, set to end their 58-year absence from the World Series. At that point, it was almost as if the baseball gods woke up and realized these were the Cubs.
Sudden collapse
What followed was a sudden collapse that would rival anything in the Cubs' puzzling, painful past -- and the emergence of baseball's most infamous fan since Jeffrey Maier.
A 26-year-old wearing a Cubs hat prevented Alou from catching Luis Castillo's ball down the left-field line.
"When it happened, Mark Redman said to me, 'Let's make this fan famous,' " Florida's Derrek Lee said.
They did.
Given the last-gasp chance, the Marlins broke loose. That's about when security decided to escort the fan out. He threw a jacket over his face for protection, but not before other fans hurled beers in his direction.
"You cost us the World Series!" one fan yelled at him.
Marlins manager Jack McKeon disagreed.
"I don't know about the fan robbing them," he said. "I don't think that was the turning point of the game."
But he might've been the only person in the ballpark who felt that way.
Wood vs. Redman
Now, after the Marlins' second straight win in the series, it goes down to tonight. Ace Kerry Wood will pitch for Chicago, while the Marlins will go with Redman.
Home teams have won 12 of the last 13 times a baseball postseason series went to Game 7. Anaheim did it last year, winning the World Series against a San Francisco team guided by Dusty Baker, now the Cubs' manager.
"It has nothing to do with the curse," Baker insisted after this loss. "It has to do with fan interference and a very uncharacteristic error by Gonzalez. History has nothing to do with this game, nothing."
When it comes to bouncing back from tough losses in October, it's a mixed bag.
The Giants lost last year after blowing a late lead in Game 6 in Anaheim. Arizona recovered from two awful defeats to beat the Yankees in 2001. Boston lost after the Bill Buckner game in 1986.
Disastrous eighth
The eighth inning at Wrigley began easily enough, with a routine flyout to Alou. But Juan Pierre doubled, and sheer disaster followed.
Castillo lifted a fly down the line and Alou ran toward the brick wall, ready to do anything it took to make the catch.
Instead, the fan reached up for the ball -- not over the wall, though -- and deflected the ball away.
"I timed it perfectly, I jumped perfectly," Alou said. "I'm almost 100 percent that I had a clean shot to catch the ball. All of a sudden, there's a hand on my glove."
Left-field umpire Mike Everitt correctly ruled no interference. Unlike the 12-year-old Maier in the 1996 ALCS at Yankee Stadium, this fan did not reach over a wall.
"The ball was in the stands. It was clear," Everitt said. "I just zeroed in on the ball, and it was an easy call."
Alou slammed his glove in anger, and many fans in the crowd of 39,577 booed and began to pelt the fan with debris.
"The ball was in the stands, the umpire saw that," McKeon said. "I didn't think there was any interference."
Another view
Chicago fire fighter Pat Looney was seated next to the fan, whose identity was not released, and said there was no misconduct.
"It looked like it was out of play. Don't blame him," Looney said. "I should've pushed him out of the way. If I saw Alou coming, I would have.
"He wasn't leaning over. He was behind the rail," he said.
Alou had calmed down when the game ended.
"At the time, I was real upset," he said. "But at same time, I kind of feel bad for the guy now, because every fan in every ballpark, their first reaction is they want a souvenir. Nobody's going to think about the outcome of the game."
FLORIDACHICAGO
abrhbiabrhbi
Pierre cf5131Lofton cf5110
LCstillo 2b4110Grdzln 2b3011
IRdrgz c4111SSosa rf4131
Cbrera rf5110Alou lf4020
JEcrcn rf0000ARmrz 3b4010
DeLee 1b5112Simon 1b2000
Lowell 3b3100Karros 1b1000
Conine lf2011ASGzlz ss3000
AGnzlz ss3000Alfnsca p0000
CFox p0000Bako c4120
Hlndsw ph0100Prior p2000
Urbina p0000Frnswr p0000
Pavano p2000Rmlngr p0000
Willis p0000REMtiz ss1000
Mrdcai ss2113
Totals35898Totals333102
Florida000000080--8
Chicago100001100--3
E--Grudzielanek (2), ASGonzalez (1). DP--Florida 2, Chicago 1. LOB--Florida
6, Chicago 7. 2B--Pierre (1), DeLee (1), Mordecai (1), SSosa (1). CS--Pierre (3). S--Grudzielanek, Prior. SF--Conine.
IPHRERBBSO
Florida
Pavano5 2-372215
Willis111112
CFox W,1-0 1-320000
Urbina200002
Chicago
Prior L,1-17 1-365336
Farnsworth1-313320
Remlinger1-310000
Alfonseca110000
WP--Willis, Prior. PB--Bako. Umpires--Home, Mike Reilly; First, Jerry Crawford; Second, Chuck Meriwether; Third, Fieldin Culbreth; Left, Mike Everitt; Right, Larry Poncino.
T--3:00. A--39,577.