Chicago, IL (My Sportsbook) - James Loney clubbed a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning and Manny Ramirez homered in the seventh as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-2, in the opener of their National League Division Series.

Russell Martin also hit a solo shot in the ninth for the Dodgers, who took advantage of eight walks, including three in the decisive fifth inning, to post their second playoff victory (2-12) since winning the 1988 World Series. Casey Blake added an RBI single in the eighth inning for the NL West champions.

Derek Lowe (1-0) had six strikeouts over six innings in his eighth career playoff start. The right-hander gave up seven hits with Chicago's lone two runs coming on a homer by Mark DeRosa in the second inning. Lowe allowed a base runner in each one of his innings, but managed to consistently escape trouble.

"Derek was great," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "He's got that preparation look in his eye, very focused early on. He just battles you. I watched it for a number of years when he was with the Red Sox. But tonight was huge."

Ryan Dempster (0-1) was charged with seven of the walks, as he yielded four hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings for the Cubs, who have been snake-bitten in the postseason. It's been 100 years since they last won a World Series title. They were swept in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by Arizona.

Dempster came into the contest with a 14-3 mark at Wrigley Field this year, the most since Ferguson Jenkins had a franchise-record 15 in 1967, but control problems in the fifth factored heavily in the defeat of the NL Central champions.

"Unfortunately, it just came down to my lack of execution that put us in a hole," said Dempster. "It was too bad, because I felt like a really let the guys down today. I could have been a little bit more aggressive, throw the ball over the plate a little bit more than I did."

The Cubs went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Chicago's Alfonso Soriano, who went 2-for-14 in the NLDS last year, was 0-for-5 in this game. The Cubs' No.2 hitter in the lineup, Kosuke Fukudome, was hitless in four at-bats.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be Thursday night at Wrigley Field. Chad Billingsley will be on the mound for the Dodgers, while Carlos Zambrano pitches for Chicago.

"We need Zambrano to go out there and pitch a good ball game for us tomorrow and get us to our short relief," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "I thought one of the keys in this series, too, was for the starting pitchers to go deep into the game. Today obviously that didn't happen, and their team tacked on runs on us."

Rafael Furcal walked with one out in the fifth, and with two down Ramirez and Andre Ethier drew back-to-back walks. Loney then took a 1-2 offering from Dempster over the ivy-laden wall in center field to give the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.

"I swung at the first three that were real low," said Loney. "I had to make the adjustment, and the one I hit was a little bit higher."

The Cubs wasted a lead-off double by Aramis Ramirez in the sixth, as Lowe fanned Geovany Soto, retired Jim Edmonds on a ground ball and got DeRosa to fly out tight to the line in right.

"I think for me the biggest out was Geovany in the sixth inning," said Lowe. "I had fallen behind 2-0, lead-off double, we're up 4-2, and to be able to get that out, for me kind of kept the momentum on our side."

Manny Ramirez crushed his 25th career postseason homer, extending a major league record, by taking an 0-2 pitch from Sean Marshall into the bleachers beyond the wall in left-center field. How Ramirez hit the lead-off homer was more impressive, though. After fouling off three straight pitches, he reached out to get a ball low, almost golfing it over the wall by using his incredible power.

"He did make a great pitch," said Manny Ramirez. "You've got to give him credit. But I don't know how I did it. Put a good piece of wood on the bat, and I drove the ball."

Blake DeWitt doubled to center field and reached third on an Edmonds error to start the eighth. Blake then grounded a single up the middle.

Martin homered to center off Jason Marquis leading off the ninth.

Four-time Cy Young Award winner and former Cub Greg Maddux pitched the ninth inning. It was his third career postseason relief appearance in 33 games.

In the first-ever postseason meeting between the teams, Edmonds singled up the middle with one out in the second. DeRosa then hit a 1-0 pitch from Lowe over the wall in the right field corner for his first career postseason homer.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs in the third inning on a pair of walks and an infield single by Manny Ramirez, but Ethier struck out.

DeRosa and Ryan Theriot singled with two outs in the fourth, but Dempster fanned.

Game Notes

Furcal started at shortstop despite missing 125 games this season due to back surgery...Piniella and Torre are meeting in the playoffs for a third series, but for the first time in the National League. Torre's Yankees beat Piniella's Mariners in the ALCS in 2000 and 2001...Loney hit the Dodgers' first postseason grand slam since Ron Cey did it off Steve Carlton in the opener of the 1977 NLCS...Torre is appearing in his 13th straight postseason, one shy of the record for a manager, held by Bobby Cox (1991-2005). Torre has more postseason victories (77) than any manager in major league history.