Wrigley’s New Goat

With help from the Florida Marlins, history seemed to hammer the Chicago Cubs again Tuesday night when the billy goat surfaced in the form of one of their own faithful fans, breathing life into the curse when it appeared ready to die.

The Marlins, limited to two hits by Mark Prior and five outs from a 3-0 defeat that would have eliminated them from the National League’s championship series, scored eight runs in a madcap eighth inning for an 8-3 victory before 39,577 stunned fans at Wrigley Field, suddenly the Unfriendly Confines.

An unwitting fan, thinking he was reaching only for a souvenir, possibly prevented left fielder Moises Alou from catching a foul fly ball in that pivotal eighth inning and the Marlins turned it into a Crazy 8, forcing a climactic Game 7 tonight and preventing the Cubs from ending their 58-year pennant drought for the second consecutive game.

“The whole game changed right there,” Alou said in the solemn Cub clubhouse. “We could be celebrating in here right now.”

Instead, the Cubs will send Kerry Wood against Mark Redman tonight amid the likelihood that the ghosts turned their dream to nightmares again, even though they put a brave face on a defeat that was another reminder of those 58 years and another reminder of the 1984 league championship series against San Diego when they took the first two games and then lost three in a row and the pennant in what was then a five-game series.

“This had nothing to do with the curse,” Chicago Manager Dusty Baker insisted. “It has to do with the fan interference, the very uncharacteristic error by [shortstop Alex Gonzalez], because he doesn’t miss anything. And then the Marlins just started hitting. It has nothing to do with the curse, it has to do with their bats.”

It was only a year ago -- in Game 6 of the World Series against the Angels and San Francisco’s Russ Ortiz holding a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning -- that Baker saw it all evaporate.

This time, he had the nearly invincible Prior on the mound, having won 12 of 13 starts since leaving the disabled list, 2-0 in the playoffs, and 11-2 in games after a Cubs defeat.

Working in the 235th inning of his first full major league season, the former USC right-hander got the first out of the eighth inning only to have Juan Pierre slice a double to left, and Luis Castillo followed with the full-count fly ball down the left-field line.

Alou moved toward the stands, leaped (“I was in perfect position and had perfect timing,” he said), but the ball was touched by the fan as it came down almost on top of the grandstand railing. Baker acknowledged he didn’t have a clear view of the play from the dugout but said he can’t understand why fans ever get involved, particularly at home.

“You have to give your player every opportunity and chance to catch the ball,” he said.

Alou’s immediate reaction endorsed that sentiment.

He waved his arms and jumped in anger and frustration, staring at the fan, who would spend the game dodging verbal abuse and a variety of objects hurled at him, even though he had not reached onto the field and interference was not called.

“Fans don’t go to school on what balls to touch and what balls not to touch,” Alou said, turning diplomatic later. “Everybody who comes to the game wants a souvenir. I felt terrible for the guy, but it definitely changed the inning.”

Instead of two outs with a runner on second, Castillo then walked, Ivan Rodriguez singled for the first run on a two-strike pitch, Gonzalez booted Miguel Cabrera’s potential double-play grounder and Derrek Lee doubled to tie the game and drive out Prior.

Kyle Farnsworth issued an intentional walk to Mike Lowell, only to have Jeff Conine follow with a fly to right for a 4-3 lead. Another intentional walk brought Mike Mordecai to the plate with the bases loaded, and the generally light-hitting infielder, who had entered the game as part of a double switch in the seventh inning, ripped a three-run double and subsequently scored the eighth run on Pierre’s second hit of the inning, a single.

The inning was the second biggest in league championship series history, but Prior didn’t blame the catch that wasn’t.

“We didn’t lose because of the fan,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of people coming to a game want to catch a foul ball. We can’t blame him, and I hope most people understand that.”

Prior made 119 pitches before leaving, giving up a double, two singles and a walk in that fatal eighth before Baker came for him.

If Gonzalez, who made only 10 errors all season, turns the double play, it’s a one-run inning.

“Nobody’s perfect,” Prior said. “I blame myself for not executing on the two-strike pitch to Rodriguez.”

Carl Pavano gave the Marlins a strong 5 2/3 innings in replacing Brad Penny as Florida’s starter, and Manager Jack McKeon said he would have Game 5 winner Josh Beckett and the whole staff ready tonight.

“We didn’t come here to play one game,” he said. “We came in to make it a seven-game series, and thank God we’ve done that.

“Some of you guys wrote like we shouldn’t have even showed up, couldn’t beat Prior, couldn’t beat Wood, couldn’t beat anybody, but this club doesn’t quit. It has character.”

The Cubs, who lost 95 games last year, will have to prove again that they have character as well.

As for the Marlins’ momentum, with their two back-to-the-wall victories?

“Momentum,” Cub first baseman Eric Karros said, “is only a matter of tomorrow’s starting pitcher, and I think we all feel that we have a pretty good one going in Kerry.”

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CRAZY EIGHTH

The play-by-play of Florida’s eighth inning, which began with the Marlins trailing, 3-0:

* Mike Mordecai flied out to left fielder Moises Alou.

* Juan Pierre doubled to left.

* Luis Castillo walked on a full count, after Alou missed a chance at catching a foul fly down the line when a fan tried to catch the ball. On Mark Prior’s wild pitch, Pierre went to third.

* Ivan Rodriguez singled to left, scoring Pierre.

* Miguel Cabrera was safe on shortstop Alex Gonzalez’s error.

* Derrek Lee doubled to left, scoring Castillo and Rodriguez. Kyle Farnsworth replaced Prior.

* Mike Lowell was intentionally walked.

* Jeff Conine hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Sammy Sosa, Cabrera scoring.

* Pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth was intentionally walked.

* Mordecai doubled to center, scoring Lee, Lowell and Hollandsworth. Mike Remlinger replaced Farnsworth.

* Pierre singled to right, scoring Mordecai.

* Castillo popped out to second baseman Mark Grudzielanek.

* Totals: 8 runs, 5 hits, 1 error, 1 left on. Marlins 8, Cubs 3