Lights out

It's been a couple days since a power outage made the lights go out at Wrigley Field, but Cubs pitchers seem intent on maintaining the theme, as Ted Lilly, Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol combined Thursday for the Cubs' second 1-0 shutout in three games.

The Cubs have a problem, and it's a great one to have--too many good starting pitchers. Tom Gorzelanny has pitched as well as anybody, and certainly better than Carlos Zambrano, yet all it took was one bad outing (though really it was more like just two bad innings) for the lefty to probably lose his starting spot to Zambrano. It's not fair to Gorzelanny, but we must assume that the Cubs will be shopping him as trade bait--unless Zambrano waves his no-trade clause and the Cubs can convince another team that the now former set-up man can still be an effective starter.

In the pen, Sean Marshall, having one of his most effective stretches as a Cub, appears to have solidified the wobbly eighth inning strategy, which actually could give the team reason to keep Gorzelanny to have another lefty option for other relief scenarios. However, it's also been reported that Andrew Cashner, who has been lights-out himself as a starter in the minors, has now been assigned to the bullpen. That seems to suggest a bullpen assignment with the big league club may not be far off.

Carlos Marmol has been better closing of late after a shaky but ultimately impressive outing in Texas last weekend, so from top to bottom, the Cubs pitching options are looking better by the day. We'll know when things aren't working again if Jeff Samardzija gets the call.

Weekend update

After their first weekend of play for the 2010 season, both are teams are 2-4, with line-ups on both sides of town still struggling mightily. The White Sox actually did manage five runs Sunday, the most either team has managed since the Cubs scored five in a hopeless effort back on Opening Day.

The Sox got a nice surprise from Andruw Jones Sunday in the form of an eighth inning game-winning hit that kept them from losing their fifth in a row and getting swept by the Piranhas. Paul Konerko had a two-run homer to continue his tear, and the Sox got solo shots from Mark Kotsay (finally make Ozzie look good for sticking with him) and Gordon Beckham, but Jones' pinch-hit single may have been the brightest moment for this team since Game 1.

Mark Buehrle also was good enough in holding the Twins to four runs over eight innings, keeping a somewhat taxed bullpen off the field.

The win came after a frustrating 2-1 Saturday loss in which a gutsy performance by Freddy Garcia's was wasted. The Sox had a number of scoring chances, but couldn't manage timely hits, and all the recent talk of aggressive base-running backfired at one point when Alex Rios, after his lead-off double, was doubled off of second on a fly ball out.

The Sox head north for a series in Toronto early this week, and it seems unlikely they will find their hitting touch in a dome (damn domes...), but at least they won't have to face Roy Halladay anymore.

The Cubs really should have won all three games in Cincinnati, yet they leave losing two out of three, and when they don't get sabotaged by their own bullpen, they can always count on Alfonso Soriano's clumsy fielding to do the job. On Sunday, Soriano's fumbling of a catchable fly ball in the seventh inning--while not extending the inning, since it would only have been the second out--changed the karma of a game in which Tom Gorzelanny had pitched very well.

After Soriano's error, and with the bases now loaded, Lou Piniella decided to take his anger out on Gorzelanny, removing the lefty for... another lefty, Sean Marshall. Still, Marshall has been dominant this past week, and we've been hoping he'd get the call more often, so the change wasn't a complete surprise. In any case, the karma had changed for the Cubs, and what we got next was a pure bad luck play in which a possible double-play grounder deflected off Marshall's glove and brought in the tying run.

The Reds scored two runs an inning later, and three runs is just too much for this Cubs team. The Cubs didn't do much hitting against rookie starter Mike Leake, with Kosuke Fukudome collecting three of the Cubs' five hits, but they didn't need to, as Leake awarded them seven walks. Still, except for an RBI single by Derrek Lee, the Cubs did nothing with the free runners. The worst was a waste of a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the first inning. So maybe a little of the bad karma was there from the beginning.

Saturday featured the Cubs' second win of the season and a nicely modulated performance by Carlos Zambrano, who fell behind early 3-0, but didn't implode, and kept the Cubs in the game until homers by Soriano, Fukudome and Jeff Baker brought them a 4-3 lead. Carlos Marmol was at his unhittable best un the ninth for the save, but Zambrano was most impressive. With the obvious exception of his no-hitter in 2008, I've rarely seen get tougher to hit and more calm as a game has gone on. It was an especially nice recovery after his Opening Day horror show.

Home opener for the Cubs tomorrow against the Brew Crew.

Vegas, baby

The Cubs and White Sox had another spring training tussle Friday night, this time at Cashman Field in Las Vegas. The Cubs came out on top 6-5.

These Vegas spring training games have always looked like a lot of fun. The crowds are always big, and the weather tends to be windy and cool on spring nights in Vegas, so the ball may sail. And then, well, you're in Vegas... I have always wanted to catch one of these games during frequent spring business trips to Vegas, but have always missed them by a day or two. I wonder if the players get to enjoy any of Sin City's temptations, or are held on a short leash.

The Vegas visit gave Sox manager Ozzie Guillen a chance to talk about his days playing for the Las Vegas Stars as a minor leaguer, and how he didn't lose any money at the tables.

Notable from the game: Cubs 3B Josh Vitters continued a good spring with a two-run-scoring triple. He's hitting .571. Mike Fontenot went 3-4, and continues to play like a man who desparately wants a job. Tom Gorzelanny looked wild at the start, but settled down. The Sox' Mark Teahen finally got a hit--who would have though Alex Rios would have two homers this spring before Teahen even got his first hit?

Tired arms

Maybe Jose Contreras has the same problem as Kevin Gregg--a tired arm--and maybe like Gregg, he is not telling anyone about it, until it's too late. Contreras hasn't pitched many innings this year, but perhaps his age, whatever it might be, is finally getting to him.

Contreras didn't even make it to the 4th inning last night, walking 5 guys and hitting 1. The Sox won anyway, as thet eventually beat the tough LA Angels 5-4 in last-inning heroics by Scott Podsednik, who drove in Jayson Nix, who had doubled with 2 outs. But, Contreras' recent problems show Jake Peavy can't get well soon enough.

Meanwhile, the Cubs' solution for Gregg's tired arm, which cost them a win Sunday in Florida, is to use either Carlos Marmol, who got in trouble and then out of it (as is his way) on Monday when the Cubs beat the Reds 4-2, or Angel Guzman, who has shown mostly good stuff all year but gave up a 2-run homer in the 9th inning last night before closing out the Reds in a 6-3 victory.

I'm a bit worried about the whole Gregg situation because he is not a stranger to the DL. He is on a pace to give up more hits this year than in previous years, so he has been working hard for his saves, and he has shockingly given up 10 homers, the most of any NL reliever (though 3 of those came in his last 2 fated outings). Both Marmol and Guzman are too wild and emotional to close games on a regular basis, which leaves... newly-acquired John Grabow? Tom Gorzelanny, who pitched so well as a starter Tuesday? Sean Marshall? All 3 are lefties, but the Cubs suddenly have a surplus of southpaws that will only increase when Ted Lilly returns.

What about Ryan Dempster in a pinch?