updated 1:17 a.m. ET Oct. 3, 2008

CHICAGO - Mark DeRosa had no trouble finding the right words after he stumbled trying to field a potential inning-ending double play.

Forget the errors that followed.

“I really believe it comes down to me not making that double play,” he said. “I really do.”

Derrek Lee followed DeRosa’s miscue with one of his own and in a flash, Carlos Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs were trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers by five runs.

When the game was over, they were in an even bigger hole.

Sloppy fielding by DeRosa and Lee fueled Los Angeles’ five-run second inning and the Cubs tied a division series record with four errors overall in an ugly 10-3 loss Thursday night.

“We talked about being a good defensive team, and certainly tonight we weren’t,” manager Lou Piniella said.

The Dodgers, benefiting from Chicago’s five errors in the first two games at Wrigley Field, can wrap up the best-of-five series with a victory Saturday night in Los Angeles.

Swept in the first round by Arizona last season, the Cubs had big goals this time after leading the NL Central most of the way and turning in a league-best 97-64 record. Instead, there was just disappointment as they headed west, trying to keep their fading hopes for their first championship in 100 years alive.

Now the Cubs will try to join the 2001 Yankees as the only teams to win a best-of-five series after dropping the first two games at home, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. New York rallied to beat Oakland in the first round.

Instead of cursing Billy goats or black cats, the Cubs should focus on their fielding.

They were counting on a big effort from Zambrano after losing the series opener 7-2, but there was little their ace could do with the shoddy defense behind him.

Each infielder got in on the act. The big ones came in the second.

“It is weird,” Lee said. “I don’t know how many errors we committed, but it’s really not acceptable.”

Zambrano, who struggled late in the season, ran into trouble when Andre Ethier led off with a single and moved to third on a hit-and-run single by James Loney that deflected off shortstop Ryan Theriot’s bare hand and into left field. Matt Kemp struck out, but the problems continued.

The usually steady DeRosa misplayed Blake DeWitt’s grounder to second as Ethier scored the first run, and three-time Gold Glove winner Lee booted Casey Blake’s bouncer to first, loading the bases with one out. Another run scored on Rafael Furcal’s two-out bunt single before Russell Martin cleared the bases with a double to left-center, making it 5-0.

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez couldn’t handle Chad Billingley’s grounder in the fourth, and Theriot’s throwing error led to a run in the ninth.

“When you give extra outs, chances are they’re going to be capitalized on, and that’s what we were able to do tonight,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

Theriot blamed bad hops on the errors by DeRosa and Lee and said, “I thought both of them did a good job keeping the ball in front of them.”

But DeRosa wasn’t buying it. He blamed himself for rushing, and said he backed up a bit as the ball approached.

“This is the worst feeling I can have,” he said. “For me personally, the play’s gotta be made. You put ’Z’ in a hole. You put traffic on the bases. You can’t do that in the postseason. ... It could have changed the whole complexion of the game if that double play gets turned.”

The infielders had all the errors but the loudest boos were reserved for slumping right fielder Kosuke Fukudome. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is hitless in eight at-bats in the series.

Signed out of Japan to a $48 million, four-year deal in the offseason, he played well enough early on to make the All-Star team before a dramatic tailspin. Piniella indicated he probably won’t start if he plays again this season.

“From now on, I don’t want to hear about Fukudome anymore as far as whether he’s going to play or not,” he said. “I’m going to play (Mike) Fontenot or Reed Johnson or somebody else and that’s the end of that story. The kid is struggling and there’s no sense sending him out there anymore.”

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