Hot Cubs Making a Pitch : Baseball: Chicago’s Castillo gets the victory as three solo homers not enough for Dodgers, 7-3.

Come on, this really can’t be happening, can it? These are the Chicago Cubs. You know, those lovable losers who haven’t been to the World Series in 50 years.

It defies all baseball logic for the Cubs to have a winning team this season, much less contend for a division title, but look who has the third-best record in baseball.

The Cubs, who defeated the Dodgers, 7-3, Friday night in front of 48,156 at Dodger Stadium, are sitting atop the National League Central Division at 13-7.

“The pitching’s been unbelievable,” said Andy MacPhail, Cub president and chief executive officer. “It’s not reasonable for it to continue at this pace.

“But hey, stranger things have happened in this game.”

This is a starting rotation that has had only one pitcher win more than 10 games in a season. They combined for only 24 victories last season. They don’t have a starter making more than $850,000.

Yet, this rotation is 12-4 with a 2.92 earned-run average, pitching at least 6 1/3 innings in the last seven starts, and yielding more than four runs in only four games all season.

Cub starter Frank Castillo (2-1) equaled last year’s victory total Friday with his performance, yielding five hits and three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. He pitched five 1-2-3 innings, a feat the Cub rotation has now accomplished 31 times in the last 50 innings.

The Cubs’ big three of Jim Bullinger, Steve Trachsel and Jaime Navarro hardly will throw fear into opponents, but who can argue with the results?

“We’re a team that has to do the little things to win, and that’s happening right now,” center fielder Brian McRae said. “We’re playing solid baseball, and the pitching keeps us in the games. I tell you what, we’re having a whole lot of fun.”

McRae, who, with four of his teammates, was a guest of Laker owner Jerry Buss at Thursday’s playoff game against San Antonio, didn’t waste any time igniting the offense against Dodger starter Tom Candiotti.

McRae led off the game with a double, and two batters later, Sammy Sosa homered into the seats in right-center. The Dodgers tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth with back-to-back homers by Raul Mondesi and Eric Karros, but the euphoria was short-lived.

The Cubs broke the game open in the sixth on shortstop Shawon Dunston’s three-run homer into the left field seats, and scored two more runs in the seventh on back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Sosa and Mark Grace.

The Cubs had a 7-2 lead, and in what marked the 16,000th game in Dodger history, the Dodgers (10-12) were left with their fourth consecutive loss, and sixth in their last seven games.

Billy Ashley’s solo homer in the seventh made it 7-3, and the Dodgers mounted a threat in the ninth, loading the bases with one out, but Randy Myers struck out Tom Prince and Jeff Treadway for his seventh save.

“You have to be patient,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “They’re going to make mistakes. We have to get more production with men in scoring position.”

Perhaps just as important, the Dodgers desperately need all-star catcher Mike Piazza and third baseman Tim Wallach back in the lineup. The Dodgers are 3-9 this season without Piazza, but Wallach is scheduled to be activated today, and Piazza is expected back in a week.

“We’re capable of winning with this lineup,” said Candiotti (1-3), “but we just haven’t done it yet. We’re giving up hits in bunches, and we haven’t gone out in full force the whole year.”

Candiotti yielded nine hits and seven earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, and with the exception of Ramon Martinez, the starting rotation has not won a game since April 26.

“That’s got to change,” Candiotti said. “We can’t keep letting this happen. We should be winning a lot at home, but it’s not happening.”

Said Karros: “I don’t think anyone should be saying, ‘Oh boy, the Dodgers are really in trouble.’ You’ve got four guys out of the everyday lineup and two, three big bats that are missing. Really, it’s nothing to get too excited about.

“Well, not yet, anyway.”