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Beauty in the eyes of the beholder: Dodgers survive Manny Ramirez in left for ugly 8-5 victory over Cubs

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Sometimes they just have to declare a team a winner.

The Dodgers and Cubs had an ugly contest Wednesday night in Chicago, and the Cubbies were found owning a few warts too many.

The Dodgers won, 8-5, on a night the game was stopped for 17 minutes in the fourth inning because of a power outage. There are those who would just as soon the rest of the game had been blacked out, which local TV almost managed.

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The Cubbies out-hit the Dodgers 14-10, but committed three errors to the Dodgers’ two.

That’s not counting, of course, a pair of are-you-kidding-me defensive -- and I use that term loosely -- plays by Manny Ramirez that were ruled hits.

Manny played left field like he was auditioning for designated hitter. Like he’s already decided he is one. Unless that toe he injured trying his ballerina move in the training room is hurting him worse than is being let on.

In the second inning, a little looper hit by pitcher Tom Gorzelanny fell for an RBI single when Manny went after it by way of Denver. He started back, slowly went forward, circled Lake Michigan, and then kind of stuck out a belated glove.

Which was a herculean effort compared to the eighth, when pinch-hitter Jeff Baker sent a fly to the wall. Manny looked at it like it was going to land 16 rows into the bleachers. He just sort of strolled back, almost admiring the drive -- until it bounced about 6 feet off the wall.

Any kind of effort, and it’s an out. Instead, it went for a two-run triple. He also bobbled another ball for an error.

All this ugliness forced manager Joe Torre to use his ace relievers more than he would have preferred. Hong-Chih Kuo had to go 1 1/3 innings, always a tad dangerous with his fragile elbow, and Jonathan Broxton had to throw a five-out save.

Chad Billingsley, who allowed three runs (two earned) in 5 1/3 innings picked up the win to raise his record to 6-2.

-- Steve Dilbeck

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