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Cubs Drop Game 2 Of National League Championship Series To Dodgers

By Alex Nitkin | October 16, 2016 3:48pm | Updated on October 16, 2016 9:54pm

WRIGLEYVILLE — After Saturday night's epic Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, Wrigleyville was buzzing again during Sunday's Game 2.

But the Dodgers spoiled the party with a 1-0 victory in Game 2. The best-of-seven series is tied at a game apiece.

Games 3 through 5 are Tuesday through Thursday in Los Angeles. All three games in L.A. are scheduled to start at 7:08 p.m. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, are Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at Wrigley Field with starting times to be determined.

Inside Rockwood Place, 3466 N Clark St., Tim Knorring took a long swig of his Coors Lite after Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw closed a fourth consecutive inning without letting a Cub on base.

"I mean, he's pretty much the best player in baseball right now, so I'm not surprised to see him go perfect through four."

Knorring was still "enjoying the game," he said, but he worried about the Cubs' prospects if they brought a tied series back to Los Angeles.

"I'd be pretty nervous. If they go back out on the road with only one win, you don't know what's going to happen."

As fans poured into the park Sunday night, two men patrolled the grounds in what looked like early Halloween costumes. They identified themselves as Joe Tinker and Frank Chance, veterans of the World Champion 1908 Cubs.

Fans stopped to take pictures with the men, who had applied ghostly makeup and stitched together ragged uniforms.

"We were awoken from the grave when the lost to the Mets on Halloween last year, and we've been wandering the earth until the Cubs win another World series," said the Chance look-alike, who declined to give his real name. "Only then will we be put to rest."

They've been haunting the home crowd at every game played in Chicago so far during the postseason, he said.

The dress-up act has brought some fans an unexpected form of catharsis, the Tinker look-alike said.

"It's been really surprising to see people associate us with all their passed-away relatives who didn't get to see this happen," he said. "A few people have asked if I can take a picture with their grandpa. Then they take out a framed picture of someone who's died. It's like they're getting some fulfillment."

The Cubs have never won a championship series before, losing to San Diego in 1984, San Francisco in 1989, Florida in 2003 and the New York Mets last year. but most fans weren't worried, especially after the explosive first game of the series.

Mario Noak, a lifelong Cubs fan from suburban Berwyn, tried to put into words what makes this year different.

"Every other year, whenever we were doing well, it's like you were just waiting for something bad to happen," said Noak, 63. "That's all different this year. Every time they're in trouble in a game now, I expect them to pull through. And they really do."

"And this year it feels like there's less pressure, since it looks like they're going to be good for a long time. We're not just cobbling something together for one postseason," he added.

The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.

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