Chicago ? There are all kinds of silences. Embarrassed silences. Uncomfortable silences. Stunned silences. There was some of all that at Wrigley Field on Saturday evening.

But there really is only one kind of booing. That would be angry booing. As the night wore on, and as more and more Cubs failed miserably in key situations at the plate, the angry booing grew and grew. Some would say the boos were booze-fueled and were an unfortunate reflection of an increasingly unmannered society.

Or it could be the Cubs stunk up the place. Yeah, I think that’s it.

Their season is over, gone like that, their playoff experience lasting about as long as a Best Short Film entry for the Oscars. The Diamondbacks beat the Cubs, 5-1, sweeping their best-of-five playoff series.

This series will be remembered for Lou Piniella’s decision to pull Carlos Zambrano after 85 pitches, for Ted Lilly throwing his glove like a Little Leaguer and for the way their big-time hitters went missing.

The lack of hitting was the target of the boo birds Saturday.

Alfonso Soriano: booed.

Derrek Lee: booed.

Aramis Ramirez: really, really booed.

“We had numerous opportunities,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Numerous.”

If you’re looking for numbers to support your depression, the three players combined to go 6-for-38 (.158) with no runs batted in during the series. Lee had four hits, all singles. Ramirez was 0-for-12.

If you’re into cosmic significance and nice, round numbers, next season will be the 100th year since the Cubs last won a World Series. The Heat-On-The-Cubs Index will make it feel like 200.

On the very first pitch, at the beginning of a rare 5:07 p.m. game, Arizona’s Chris Young sent a succulent Rich Hill fastball into the left-field bleachers. That brought on the stunned kind of silence. As a summation of the series, it finished a distant second to Lilly’s glove-slamming in Game 2, but it wasn’t bad. The Cubs were hoping to set a tone Saturday, move on to Game 4 and, well, who could predict the treasures that were awaiting them?

Instead, Zambrano will be plenty rested.

“The fans are as passionate fans as anyone in baseball,” manager Bob Melvin said of the Wrigley crowd. “We knew we had to try to take them out and take the momentum away. And Chris Young’s home run in the first inning went a long way to (doing) that.”

Starting pitcher Livan Hernandez had walked three to load the bases, and then got out of the jam. With these Cubs, you wonder if greatness had been thrust upon him.

“I got more pressure when I live in Cuba and I get up in the morning looking for something (to eat),” Hernandez said.

Well, OK, there is that.

When the seventh inning ended with a Lee double play, it meant the Cubs had tied a division series record with four. The Cubs batted .087 with runners in scoring position.

A radio host recently referred to the Cubs as a “national embarrassment.” No. An 85-victory team doesn’t often dominate the playoffs. This was a decent team finding its level.

They played this way for long periods during the regular season. They struggled to find power. They went through stretches when they couldn’t hit. That Cubs team was on display in the playoffs. You can call it bad luck or you can attempt to call it an embarrassment. But it’s much more accurate to say that this is who the Cubs are, and leave it at that.