Cubs have bad day at the office in Game 1 of NLCS vs. Dodgers

By Rick Telander

LOS ANGELES — One game isn’t enough to tell you much, is it? Let’s say no.

Because the Dodgers looked a lot better than the Cubs on Saturday in the first game of the National League Championship Series. They looked four-games-to-one better in this series. Maybe sweep-better.

They’re a very good team, obviously. They were 55 games above .500 at one point this season and finished with a major-league-best record of 104-58. Oh, and they swept the Diamondbacks in their NL Division Series.

Moreover, their 5-2 victory against the Cubs wasn’t as close as it might look from the score. The Cubs went ahead 2-0 on a home run by Albert Almora Jr. in the fourth inning, then sort of faded away.

Or maybe they were blown away by the Dodgers’ elite pitching and the bulging muscles on Yasiel Puig’s arms and shoulders. Puig drove in two runs with a double in the fifth and a homer in the seventh.

That he admired each blast and clapped for himself in satisfaction when he perhaps should have been sprinting is irrelevant at this point.

Puig summed it up best: ‘‘I’m very proud of myself.’’

The other thing that stood out was manager Joe Maddon getting thrown out of the game by second-base umpire Mike Winters for going into a wild tirade over a call at home plate that was reversed in favor of the Dodgers in the seventh.

Maddon was furious that the call was overturned — although replays showed Cubs catcher Willson Contreras had his left leg partly extended so it blocked the plate as the Dodgers’ Charlie Culberson slid home — but he was more furious about life inequities.

‘‘From Day 1, I have totally disagreed with the content of that rule,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘I think it’s wrong. Anybody that’s played major-league or even minor-league baseball will agree with me 100 percent on that.’’

Perhaps not the Dodgers after Culberson’s run was allowed.

But Maddon was on a philosophical soapbox.

‘‘That gets interpreted kind of like tantamount to the soda tax in Chicago, for me,’’ he said.

Interesting. What?

‘‘My point is all rules that are created — or laws — aren’t necessarily good ones,’’ Maddon said.

This has been shown to be true through revolution and interpretations made some of the highest courts in the world, often after martyrs have made the ultimate sacrifice.

But, dude, we’re talking about sliding in dirt here. The run didn’t even matter because the Cubs had quit scoring by that time.

Moreover, you know that if the Cubs had been on reversal side of the play, Maddon wouldn’t have gone all junkyard dog about it.

But it was a bad moment for the Cubs, just as Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen’s dominant closeout was. Jansen goes 6-5 and every ounce of 275 pounds, and he is terrifying to behold. He threw 17 pitches, 14 for strikes, and struck all four men he faced.

‘‘The momentum does switch if that call [at the plate] goes our way,’’ said Almora, who also claimed to be baffled by the rule.

‘‘Just one of those rules that the whole league loves,’’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo said, oozing sarcasm.

Veteran pitcher John Lackey was depressed by modern times.

‘‘It’s sad,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s sad the direction our game’s gone.’’

Maybe the Cubs sense a rough road ahead. Or maybe they’re just hoping the Dodgers aren’t for real.

Follow me on Twitter @ricktelander.

Email: rtelander@suntimes.com