"Hopefully, we're not saying goodbye," Chicago's Mark DeRosa said.

Derrek Lee and Ronny Cedeno each drove in three runs, and Carlos Zambrano won his career-high 17th game on Sunday to lead the Cubs to an 8-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, completing a sweep and opening a 3 1/2-game lead in the Central Division.

The Cubs have a little more breathing room after the Milwaukee Brewers lost, 7-4, to the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs have six games left, all on the road, beginning Tuesday in Florida. The Brewers have seven games remaining, all at home.

"We're in the sprint, there's no question," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "You can see the finish line. It's right there ahead of us."

How enthused are Cubs fans about possible postseason play? When the scoreboard operators at Wrigley Field posted a "4" for the Braves' four-run seventh, the crowd did "The Chop," a trademark of Atlanta fans.

"Our crowd doesn't have much rhythm, though, because they couldn't get in sync," Lee said.

"I hate the tomahawk chop," Cubs reliever Scott Eyre said, "but it was pretty cool to see it in our stadium."

DeRosa has been in touch with some of his former teammates on the Braves, trying to give them a scouting report on the Brewers.

"I've got to call my buddies back home that 40,000 people were doing the Atlanta chop in Wrigley Field," DeRosa said. "It was awesome. Guys on the team were following what was going on in that game, and trying to get a 'W' here, and to sweep on our last regular-season game at home, it was a special atmosphere."

The raucous crowd, numbering 41,364, boosted the season attendance to a franchise-record 3,252,462.

"This is an environment, this is a baseball environment," Piniella said. "It's unbelievably exciting. I can see why so many players want to play here. I don't think there's an environment like this in baseball."

Lee hit an RBI double in the fifth and a two-run homer in the sixth, his 20th, off Tom Gorzelanny (14-9). Cedeno, subbing for Ryan Theriot, who was sidelined with back spasms, hit an RBI single in the second and a two-run homer in the seventh. The Cubs now have clubbed 38 homers in September, setting a club record for the month.

"They say they come in bunches -- I guess they've come in bunches," Lee said.

Zambrano (17-13) had to leave the game after six innings because of cramping in his forearm and leg. It's at least the third time he's had to exit early. The right-hander struck out the first four batters he faced on 18 pitches, and finished with six K's. He gave up three hits -- all singles -- and walked three over six innings. He helped himself in the sixth when he doubled and scored on DeRosa's single to go ahead, 4-0.

"He was assertive from the first pitch of the game, and he got himself in a rhythm and was consistently throwing the ball in that 93- to 95-mph range, which is what you'd like to see," Piniella said. "We've got to see if we can figure [the cramping] out."

Zambrano has one more regular-season start scheduled for Saturday in Cincinnati. Expect him to be drinking a lot of water between now and then.

Piniella wasn't ready to celebrate a 3 1/2-game lead, the Cubs' largest this season.

"I'll be more excited if and when we clinch," Piniella said. "That's what this is all about. We're in a good position, but again, there's baseball to be played. We've talked about winning series, and basically that's what we've done."

"You've got to give them credit," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "We ran into a buzzsaw here. That's it. They are very focused and on a mission, and after today, personally, I think they're going to accomplish it."

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