Big Z available day after hospitalization
Baker's vision fine after suffering migraine
Piniella talks about Lilly cheating accusations
CHICAGO — Cubs reliever Sean Marshall has five wins in the month of May. None of the other Cubs pitchers can say that, not even the starters.
"It's very hard to do," Marshall said. "I've just run into some good luck and have gotten the opportunity to pitch in tight games and keep the score close. Good things happen when you come in and keep the score zero or tied."
On Thursday, manager Lou Piniella commended the left-hander for being unselfish and accepting a role in the bullpen. Marshall had competed for one of the spots in the rotation this spring.
"I read that," Marshall said. "I appreciate that. That's how I feel my attitude has always been, to do whatever the team needs. I feel good in the role and I enjoy it."
At this pace, he could finish with 20 wins.
"In the first three games of the season, I was on pace to throw every game," Marshall said. "I like the wins better."
Marshall is the first Cubs reliever to win five games in a month since Dick Tidrow went 5-0 in July 1979. The previous Chicago pitcher to win five in one month was Randy Wells, who went 5-1 in six starts last July.
Big Z available day after hospitalization
CHICAGO — Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano was able to take grounders at shortstop on Friday, one day after being hospitalized because of pain in his lower right side.
Zambrano had "appendicitis symptoms," which he felt prior to Thursday's game, and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for tests. The right-hander, who will return to the rotation, said he ate something that didn't agree with him.
He was available out of the bullpen on Friday for the first game of the Cubs' series against the Cardinals.
"I'm ready," Zambrano said. "I'm ready to pitch against St. Louis in the eighth."
"I think he had a little more of a [food] strain," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said, "but he feels good today, and we'll use him if need be."
The grounders at short were done just for fun during batting practice. Zambrano also took his turn in the cage to hit with the other Cubs starters.
Zambrano was to have a side session on Saturday as his final tuneup before he rejoins the rotation, which is expected to happen in the Cubs' upcoming series against the Pirates, Monday through Wednesday.
Baker's vision fine after suffering migraine
CHICAGO — Cubs third baseman Jeff Baker's vision was fine on Friday after he suffered an ocular migraine during Thursday's 1-0 win over the Dodgers, which caused him to temporarily lose sight in his right eye.
Baker left Thursday's game in the eighth inning after the Dodgers' Russell Martin bounced a single past him, and the third baseman didn't move to get the ball. He actually started having troubles in the bottom of the seventh, when he was putting his batting helmet on.
"Instead of getting pain and a headache, it just knocked out the vision in my right eye," Baker said Friday. "It started when I was in the dugout. I wear glasses in day games, and I thought I had a scratch on my glasses. I took them off and it wasn't going away. It progressively got worse and I couldn't see out of there.
"I was hoping it would go away real quick, and it didn't go away and that's when I came out of the game."
Baker said he never got migraines before.
"I do now," he said.
Baker also knows how to handle it now, by taking a pain medication when he feels it coming on.
"Since it was the first time, I didn't know what it was and we didn't know what it was," he said.
Did he see Martin's single to left?
"I heard it, I saw it for a second barely," Baker said. "I didn't move. I don't know why, to be honest. I didn't see it very well. I didn't pick it up. I looked in the dugout at [athletic trainer] Ed [Halbur], and he asked me if I was OK, and I said, 'It's not getting better.'"
Baker was examined by the Cubs' opthamologist, but his vision had returned by the time he saw the doctor.
"You take a lot of stuff for granted," Baker said. "Not being able to see definitely scared me a little bit. I'm glad everything's good, so I have nothing to worry about."
Piniella talks about Lilly cheating accusations
CHICAGO — Was Ted Lilly getting a little bit of an edge by not having his foot on the pitching rubber? The Dodgers thought so.
In the sixth inning on Thursday, the Dodgers' Casey Blake complained to first-base umpire John Hirschbeck that Lilly was not on the pitching rubber.
"I know the guy doesn't have the fastest fastball and he's trying to get any edge he can, but the guy is just cheating," Blake said. "John wouldn't at least tell him to get on the rubber or move to get a better look at it. That's what made me mad."
Hirschbeck said he couldn't tell if Lilly was in contact with the rubber. What did manager Lou Piniella think of the accusations?
"I don't know how to answer that one," Piniella said on Friday. "Is using a little less real estate cheating? I'm going to pass on that question. I don't have an answer for you. I wouldn't think that any of our pitchers cheated. At the same time, I saw the film and there was a little hole on the mound."
Meaning, a little distance between Lilly's foot and the rubber?
"All I know is [Lilly] pitched a really good ballgame for seven innings and gave us a chance to win," Piniella said. "There have been hitters out of the batter's box, too."