Stating the obvious: Piniella says relievers must 'tighten it up'

Cubs manager Lou Piniella may have been stating the obvious after Thursday's 8-6 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.

But really, it can't be said enough.

"Our bullpen, it's hard to win when the other team keeps tacking on or adding runs when you're behind," Piniella said. "The bullpen's got to tighten it up."

The bullpen didn't help matters on this warm and windy day. Three Cubs relievers combined to pitch 4 innings and allow 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned). However, starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano put the Cubs in an early hole.

Zambrano lasted just 5 innings as he gave up 8 hits and 4 runs (3 earned). He ran his pitch count to 121 and had a recurrence of the cramping problems that have plagued him in the past, this time with his calf and right index finger.

"I felt good during the game," he said. "The wind did affect me a little bit, but I have been here for eight years and know that I have to keep the ball down all the time when the wind is blowing out."

The Cubs (4-5) led 2-1 in the top of the third when Zambrano issued a leadoff walk to Ryan Braun. After Prince Fielder struck out, former Cub Casey McGehee hit an opposite-field homer to right that got a little help from an 18-mph jet stream.

"I made one mistake to McGehee, and he hit it good," Zambrano said. "One hundred twenty-(one) pitches, it was a lot, but I was feeling good. They hit too many foul balls today. They hit too many foul balls, and I was 3-2 many times."

Actually, it was the fair balls that gave Zambrano and the relievers the most trouble, as the Brewers (4-5) scored single runs in the fourth and in each inning from the sixth on after the Cubs tied the game in the fourth and again in the sixth.

Reliever Sean Marshall gave up his first run of the season in the sixth. Jeff Samardzija allowed 2 in 2 innings, including Braun's leadoff homer in the eighth. John Grabow allowed an unearned run in the ninth, thanks in part to his own fielding error.

If the Cubs were frustrated, it might have boiled over when mild-mannered Derrek Lee was ejected by home-plate umpire Angel Campos after being called out on strikes on the seventh. Getting tossed is out of character for Lee.

"That's what I told the umpire," Piniella said. "I told him that doesn't happen very often, if at all. I think the umpire heard a lot from both benches as far as strike zone was concerned."

So his tank might have been on full."