Cubs blow lead late

CHICAGO -- Five outs to go. Wrigley Field crowd on its feet. World Series within its grasp.\nThen, it was almost as if the baseball gods realized these were the Chicago Cubs.\nThose lovable losers blew it again thanks, in part, to -- of all things -- one of their own fans.\nIn a stunning eighth-inning turnaround, the Florida Marlins took advantage of left fielder Moises Alou's run-in with a fan on a foul fly and an error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez to score eight runs in an 8-3 victory Tuesday night, forcing the NL championship series to a Game 7.\nMark Prior, Sammy Sosa and the Cubs cruised into the eighth with a 3-0 lead, all set to end their 58-year absence from the World Series.\nWhat followed was a stunning collapse that would rival anything in the Cubs' puzzling, painful past.\nNow, after the Marlins' second straight win in the series, it goes down tonight. Ace Kerry Wood will pitch for Chicago, while Marlins manager Jack McKeon will go with Mark Redman.\nThe inning began easily enough, with Prior getting the first out. But Juan Pierre doubled, and sheer disaster followed.\nLuis Castillo lifted a fly down the left-field line and Alou ran toward the brick wall, ready to do anything it took to make the catch. Instead, a man who seemed to be in his 20s, reached up for the ball -- not over the wall, though -- and appeared to deflect the ball away.\nLeft-field umpire Mike Everitt correctly ruled no interference -- unlike 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier in the 1996 ALCS at Yankee Stadium, this fan did not reach into the field of play.\nAlou slammed his glove in anger, and many fans in the crowd of 39,577 booed and began to pelt the man with debris.\nCastillo then walked, and the crowd sensed trouble brewing. Ivan Rodriguez hit an RBI single and Miguel Cabrera followed with a grounder in the hole that Gonzalez simply dropped for an error that loaded the bases.\nDerrek Lee stepped up and hit a drive into the left-field corner, pumping his fist even before he reached first base, and the two-run double tied it.\nPrior was pulled and Kyle Farnsworth came in and intentionally walked Mike Lowell to load the bases. With the crowd sitting in stunned silence and Prior blankly staring, Jeff Conine hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly.\nMike Mordecai broke it open with a three-run double off the wall in left-center, his shot hitting near a splash of red-and-orange ivy, and Pierre added an RBI single.\nIt had to be a haunting reminder for Cubs manager Dusty Baker. Last October, his San Francisco Giants took a big lead into the late innings of Game 6 of the World Series, and wound up losing the game and series to Anaheim.\nChad Fox got the win and Prior took the loss, although long-suffering fans in Chicago -- still waiting for the Cubs' first Series championship since 1908 -- will certainly blame the fan.\nTo add to the hurt, the fan was wearing a Cubs hat. Once the rally got in full swing, fans around him starting hurling beers in his direction and he was escorted out by security with a jacket over his face.\n"You cost us the World Series!" one fan yelled at him.\nThe Cubs have never clinched a postseason series at home, and had not even reached the World Series since 1945. Those droughts will continue for another day, and possibly a lot longer.\nPrior was dominant until the eighth, allowing until only three hits until then.\nAnd once again, Kenny Lofton got the Cubs off to a fast start.\nLofton led off the first with a single, moved up on a sacrifice and scored his NLCS record-tying eighth run on Sosa's opposite-field double to right. That run gave the Cubs a 12-0 margin in the first inning of this series.\nSosa and Alou singled to start the sixth. With two outs, reliever Dontrelle Willis threw a wild pitch that let Sosa scamper home.\nMark Grudzielanek made it 3-0 with an RBI single in the seventh.\nCarl Pavano pitched well in his first career postseason start, getting his chance in place of ineffective Brad Penny. Pavano kept the game close into the sixth, and the second run charged to him scored on Willis' two-out wild pitch.\nUntil this year, Pavano been best known as the answer to a couple of trivia questions. He was traded for Pedro Martinez after the 1997 season and gave up Mark McGwire's 70th home run the next year.