Wells steps up, but it's still not enough to get a victory
Randy Wells might as well as been eavesdropping when Cubs manager Lou Piniella was trying to light a little fire under his young relievers Monday night.
If Wells felt the flame, it certainly showed in Tuesday night's performance during a tough 1-0 loss to the San Diego Padres.
Wells gave up only a first-inning run while working 7 innings of 3-hit ball.
Piniella lamented that none of his relievers was grabbing opportunity. Nearing the end of an up-and-down year himself, Wells said he's taking nothing for granted as far as 2011 goes.
"They're big, they're big for me," he said of his starts. "You want to put yourself in contention for next year. They're showcasing a lot of young guys up here, and a lot of guys are deserving for a job.
"You've just got to keep showing you can pitch and put yourself in the mix for next year.
"When they traded Teddy (Ted Lilly), I put that on myself to step up and show the organization I could take a bigger role and be a guy who can give them good innings and good games and give ourselves a chance to win.
"For the most part, I've been subpar. Take these last 8 or 9 starts and push forward and try to bring some positives out of a down season."
Wells's record fell to 5-11 with an ERA of 4.44 in his second full season in the big leagues. He was 12-10 with a 3.05 ERA last year.
Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol pitched scoreless ball in the eighth and ninth innings, as the Cubs outhit the Padres 6-3 and still lost.
Piniella didn't have to go to any of his five rookies in the pen, whom he said lack only experience and secondary pitches.
"We're trying to get them going," Piniella said. "We want to see them do well. We know that they're not experienced. We know that we probably rushed a couple of them.
"But they are getting a wonderful opportunity here. Let's hope that this learning curve, this learning experience, pays off for a few of them down the stretch.
"They're a bunch of good kids, and they work hard. It's just a question of going out there and having confidence in themselves and getting people out."
As far as the Cubs' offense goes, it was the same old story against former White Sox pitcher Jon Garland (12-8). The Cubs were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They hit into 3 double plays, and it looked like anxiousness hurt them several times, with first-pitch swings for outs.
The Cubs gave what was left of the announced crowd of 33,664 a thrill in the bottom of the ninth against closer Heath Bell. Aramis Ramirez led off with a bloop single. After Xavier Nady and Alfonso Soriano struck out, Blake DeWitt flied out to Ryan Ludwick at the wall in right field.
"I thought I had a chance, at least a chance to get over his head, maybe, there," DeWitt said. "We had several chances before that tonight."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Padres 1, Cubs 0</p>
<p class="News"><b>Quality, but not enough:</b> Randy Wells turned in the Cubs' 70th quality start. He worked 7 innings, giving up 3 hits and 1 run. The Cubs are 38-32 in quality-start games, with the starters' ERA in those games at 2.28.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Hacking away:</b> Blake DeWitt swung at the first pitch he saw in the fourth and flied out to left, but not deep enough to score Xavier Nady from third. Marlon Byrd saw 2 pitches total in his final 2 at-bats, a leadoff groundout in the sixth and a double-play grounder to end the eighth.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Strike three:</b> With 2 strikeouts in the ninth, Carlos Marmol became the second Cubs reliever to record multiple 100-strikeout seasons. Bruce Sutter did it three times (1977-79).</p>
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