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Cubs lose.

Been there, done this.

I guess it's up to the White Sox now to keep our teams from going belly-up with the big O-for-October.

Dodgers 3, Cubs 1, that's your final final score. At least for our North Side's dream team it is. Playoff over. Party over. Saturday night dead. Better luck next century. So long, everybody!

It's over when it's over. That includes the ownership of Tribune Company, which is selling the team lock, stock and jocks.

Oh, and expect big discounts for "This Is the Year!" a new Cubs book on sale everywhere that is sure to go down in history with other Trib highlights, including DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.

Resident genius Lou Piniella also can rest up for '09. Sweet Lou's playoff record is now a sickening 0-6. Hey, at least Dusty Baker managed to win six October games.

It rained in L.A. most of the day.

Or was that God sprinkling holy water on the Cubs?

A divine Cubbie occurrence was the only way anything was going to save them.

Nothing else worked.

To live or die in L.A. - that was the story in a nutshell Saturday night. A last chance for the Cubs to avoid a winter's worth of jokes at their expense.

Like everybody else, Ted Lilly looked on in a state of shock as the Los Angeles Dodgers came to Wrigley Field and took a pair of games from a stumbling, bumbling bunch of Cubs.

"And so now maybe it's our turn to take two here and then invite them back to Chicago," the left-hander assigned to pitch Game 4 prayed aloud.

Ah, the audacity of hope.

Wishful thinking was about all the Cubs had left. Heaven knows their exorcism was a flop. From that moment a priest was brought in to anoint a Wrigley dugout with holy water, each of the players' heads began to spin around like Linda Blair's.

All that's left now for the 2008 Cubs is a priest to administer the last rites.

Piniella sought answers and guidance.

"Maybe we'll relax a little more," he said before the game.

He shuffled his lineup, benching Kosuke Fukudome and inserting Mike Fontenot at second base. He tinkered with his pitching staff, temporarily assigning Ryan Dempster to the bullpen for emergency's sake. He juggled his batting order, letting the .143-hitting Geovany Soto hit fifth while dropping Mark DeRosa and his .500 series average from fifth (in Game 2) to seventh.

It did not produce immediate results.

After a leadoff out (yes, another one) by Alfonso Soriano and one by Fontenot, a wall-banging double by Lee followed by a walk to Aramis Ramirez gave the Cubs a shot at a good start. Soto promptly shot a blank. A shard from his broken bat went farther than the weak grounder to third Soto hit with it.

Last-hope starting pitcher Rich Harden took the mound for the Cubs, facing a dangerous Dodgers lineup and not having the luxury of a boisterous home crowd on his side as Dempster and Carlos Zambrano had back in Chicago.

Within minutes, L.A. was rocking and rolling and the Cubs were reeling.

Cars were still tied up in Chavez Ravine traffic trying to get to the parking lot when the Dodgers jumped in front 2-0. Two of their first three batters scored.

Russell Martin sent a frozen-rope double down the left-field line. Then that man no one seems to know how to get out, Manny Ramirez, poked a seeing-eye single between third and short.

A ripped double by James Loney into the right-field corner put the merry-go-round in motion. Martin scored easily. Manny, being Manny, kept motoring around third and the Cubs, being the Cubs, failed to throw him out.

Things grew increasingly desperate with every inning.

A pair of singles by Fontenot and Lee brought a glimmer of hope in the third. Up came the Cubs' Ramirez, not to be confused with the Dodgers' Ramirez.

Aramis being Aramis, he killed the rally by bouncing out to third.

The countdown to the end of the Cubs' dream-team season continued.

Only 18 outs left to go.

Fourth inning, nobody out, another nice opportunity: Soto finally showed up, doubling to left.

So, did they get Soto home? No, they did not. He advanced only 90 feet farther, where he was stranded when Harden flailed at an outside pitch for strike three.

Only 15 outs to go.

The fifth ended with a whiff of Lee, who spiked his helmet in disgust.

Only 12 outs to go.

The sixth ended with Edmonds taking a third strike with the bat on his shoulder.

Only nine outs to go.

An infield hit began the seventh. Fukudome emerged from Piniella's doghouse. He slapped a hard single to center field off Japanese countryman Hiroki Kuroda, a pretty clear indication that the Dodgers pitcher was done. Joe Torre gave him the hook.

Could this be the occurrence that the Cubs of '08 had been dying for?

Soriano held fate in his hands. But he continued to be Mr. April Through September, flying out. That left it up to Fontenot, who drove one far but not far enough.

Only six outs to go.

A run scored in the eighth on Daryle Ward's pinch hit. At least SOME Cub finally got a big hit. But the rally ended with DeRosa striking out.

Only three outs to go.

You could picture Santo groaning, Banks cheering, Murray not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Harry needing another beer.

Ninth inning, all or nothing now. Soriano struck out to end it, and not a soul in Chicago was singing "Go, Cubs, Go."

No outs to go.

One hundred years. Been there, seen this.

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.