Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome also homered for the Cubs, who swept four games from the Brewers for the first time since 2003.

The game nearly turned ugly in the ninth when relief pitcher Eric Gagne threw behind Edmonds on a 3-0 pitch and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.

“The umpire told me I can’t go inside,” Gagne said.

Getting swept at home (and outscored 31-11) with first place at stake is bad enough. Having to hear tens of thousands of Cubbie fans chanting “Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!’’ in your home ballpark? Humiliating. And how about Jim Edmonds getting a rare road standing ovation after homering twice and driving in five runs? Mortifying.

“They filled the ballpark,’’ Cubs manager Lou Piniella said of the Brewers. “You know, outside of the fact that they lost four ballgames, they’ve got to be happy.’’

Indeed. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

If I correctly picked up on all the subtle signals — the smashed bats, the arguing with umpires, the beanballs, the ejections — the Brewers sure didn’t seem especially happy.