CHICAGO - This was no way for Ryan Dempster to back up his bold prediction. Not that he was about to retract it.

The man who turned heads by forecasting the Cubs would win the World Series went wild and failed to make it out of the fifth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Chicago 7-2 Wednesday in their NL playoff opener.

Dominant at Wrigley Field during the regular season, Dempster tied a career-high with seven walks and gave up a grand slam to James Loney. It certainly wasn’t a good start for the All-Star or for a team looking to end a 100-year championship drought.

Which is exactly what Dempster predicted the Cubs would do on the first day of spring training, even though he wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the rotation.

“I still believe it,” he said.

The Cubs will need a better effort from emotional ace Carlos Zambrano to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole in this best-of-5 series, but they have a habit of coming through in the clutch. They just didn’t get the job done on Wednesday.

Dempster raised a few eyebrows on the first day of spring training when he said, “I think we will win the World Series. I really do.” And he did his part as the Cubs won the National League Central.

Back as a starter after three seasons as the Cubs’ closer, he went 17-6 and was fourth in the league with a 2.96 ERA. He was particularly good at home in going 14-3, and that was one reason manager Lou Piniella had him start the opener over Zambrano.

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But in his first playoff start and second postseason appearance, Dempster found little comfort in the Friendly Confines.

“I felt good,” said Dempster, who allowed runners to reach base in every inning. “I don’t know if I was trying to be too fine or what.”

Piniella couldn’t explain the control problems, either.

“We talked about the importance of throwing strikes before the ballgame today,” he said. “I thought that would be a big key. And their guys threw strikes and ours didn’t. It hurts.”

Dempster threw 32 pitches in the third inning when the Dodgers got two walks and an infield single by Manny Ramirez to load the bases with two out, but Andre Ethier struck out.

Ahead 2-0, Dempster wasn’t as fortunate in the fifth.

Rafael Furcal, Ramirez and Ethier walked to load the bases for Loney, who hit a drive far over the center-field wall with two outs to make it 4-2.

Loney swung at and missed the first two pitches, fouled off the third and took a high fastball before connecting on a changeup. That silenced the crowd, and Matt Kemp chased Dempster with a double to left-center.

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“I thought he was around the zone,” Theriot said. “You almost have to give credit to their hitters for laying off some of those pitches. They were good pitches. It wasn’t like he was throwing all over the place.”

But they weren’t in the strike zone, either.

“When you consistently put yourself in jams with walks, eventually someone’s going to get a knock,” said Mark DeRosa, whose two-run homer gave the Cubs the early lead. “That’s just the way the game is. If he makes one more good pitch to Loney the game might be different, but it turned out the way it did. I’m hoping he gets another chance.”

Dempster was quick to point the finger at himself. He was particularly upset that Ramirez walked after falling behind 0-2.

“I know they earned it with the grand slam, but I sure put myself in a tough situation,” he said. “I’ve just got to put myself in a better situation.”