Marmol struggles, gets out of jam as Cubs win

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

CHICAGO - The Cubs are treading water, Lou Piniella said Thursday. Not sinking, but not exactly swimming, either. “We've treaded water for a long, long time,” Piniella said. “We had that real good spurt where we got ourselves about 20-over-.500 or so - we've been basically treading water ever since. We're going to have to step it up.” Later, after the Cubs defeated Florida, 6-3, he was at it again. “It just hasn't been easy,” Piniella said. “It's been a complete struggle, if you want to know the truth. It has not been easy.” Piniella cited injuries as a reason for the team's recent struggles. Losing so many players, he said, made it almost impossible to continue to forge ahead. “You don't lose [Alfonso Soriano] for half a summer, you don't lose [Carlos] Zambrano, you don't lose [Kerry] Wood, you don't lose [Reed] Johnson, you don't lose [Daryle] Ward,” he said, “You don't just lose these guys and steam along. “Let's get realistic about this. I like our ballclub - but we've got to get healthy.” The Cubs should pick it back up if Wood can return, as Soriano has, Piniella said. On Thursday, even without Wood - he's out at least until next Tuesday - the Cubs were able to do just that, touching Crystal Lake South graduate Scott Olsen for seven hits and six earned runs in six innings en route to their 38th home win. Olsen allowed solo homers to Ronny Cedeno and Henry Blanco, an RBI double to Carlos Zambrano and a two-run double to Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs (60-42) did most of their damage in a four-run fifth, which could have been even bigger if Derrek Lee had not been thrown out trying to score. After the inning, Olsen (6-5, 4.07 ERA) took his frustrations out on the dugout. “OLSEN QUOTE” Carlos Zambrano (11-4) allowed two runs in seven innings. Relievers Chad Gaudin, Neal Cotts, Bob Howry and Carlos Marmol worked out of an eighth inning jam. Marmol loaded the bases in the ninth, but with two outs and the tying run on first, he struck out Wes Helms to record his fourth save. “He's a little too excitable,” Piniella said of Marmol. “He's just got to calm down a little bit, make his pitches. Trust his pitches. Because he's got good stuff.” Piniella said he needed “half a cold beer” to settle down after the game. “It got a little antsy there in the ninth, but it's in the win column,” he said. The Cubs needed a win, too. A loss, coupled with Milwaukee's victory over St. Louis, would have dropped the North Siders into a first-place tie. Considering the injuries, that wouldn't be too surprising, Piniella stressed. After all, in his mind, the Cubs have done a brilliant job simply holding on to first. “The resiliency that we've had has been, to me ... I don't want to say remarkable, but that's what comes to mind,” he said. “We've lost a lot of people here. “Because we've been winning games, because we haven't been to where we've wanted to go for a long time, everybody's gotten on our bandwagon. But it hasn't been easy. It just hasn't been easy. We need to get totally healthy.” The Cubs won't be totally healthy until Tuesday at the earliest, when Wood is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list. “I fell like I'm close,” Wood said after the game. “I haven't thrown the ball off the mound in a little while. It's something that I've got to do before I jump into games. “Hopefully we're ready by Tuesday.” Until then, the Cubs will tread water.