Quade expecting to return as Cubs manager

Cubs manager Mike Quade was hardly in a nostalgic or reflective mood Wednesday, before or after his team beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1 at Wrigley Field.

The game was highlighted by pitcher Matt Garza's complete-game effort and shortstop Starlin Castro getting 2 hits but falling 1 hit shy of reaching the 200-hit mark for the season.

The Cubs improved to 69-87 for the season; they finished the home portion of their schedule at 39-42.

Despite it all, Quade said he's not worried about his job status after this season, his first full year at the helm.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I haven't thought about it, don't think about it, don't believe it. Let's play ball.

“Why would I? We're going to play today, and I'm going to be back. That's the way I look at things. There's no other way to look at it.”

The Cubs will hire a new general manager in the coming weeks, and that person may want a new field boss.

“Nothing I can do about that,” Quade said. “It might have great considerations. I don't see any reason to look at it any other way. I'm not going to wax nostalgic and think, ‘Oh, my God.' I plan to be back, and I plan to do a good job next year.”

Asked if he was disappointed in anything, Quade said: “I'm disappointed in the record. I'm not disappointed in myself.”

Castro comes up short:Starlin Castro needed 3 hits to reach 200 for the season, and he wanted to do it at Wrigley Field. He doubled his first time up (getting thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple) and hit an RBI single his second time up.After that, Castro took an intentional walk, grounded out and finally walked, in the eighth inning. Before coming up in the eighth, the Wrigley Field crowd gave him a rousing hand.#8220;I tried to do it,#8221; he said. #8220;I'm ready for Friday in St. Louis. I was excited. I tried to do it here and let the fans see it.#8221;Castro worked the count to 3-0 in the eighth, but with the Cubs ahead 7-1, the unwritten rules of baseball dictated the take sign. Castro said he understood.#8220;The game's not even close,#8221; he said. #8220;If I swing at this pitch and miss it, maybe the other pitches are in my back.#8221;Castro has reached base safely in a career-best 34 straight games. He is just the second Cub to reach in that many in a row as a shortstop, joining Woody English (1929). Garza goes distance: Matt Garza finally got his complete-game victory. Garza threw 123 pitches over 9 innings, giving up 6 hits and 1 unearned run. He walked one and struck out 10 as his record improved to 9-10 with a 3.35 ERA.Garza lost a complete game to the White Sox, 1-0, on July 2. Last Friday, he worked 9 innings against Houston but gave up a game-tying homer to Carlos Lee in the ninth inning of a game the Cubs won in 12. #8220;I loved it,#8221; Garza said of Wednesday's game. #8220;I saw (James) Russell get up (in the bullpen) and it (ticked) me off. There was no way I was coming out of this thing. A 6-run lead, I'll give up 5 before I come out of this thing.#8221;Attendance milestone:Wednesday's announced crowd of 30,965 brought the announced season attendance at Wrigley Field to 3,017,966.It is the eighth consecutive season the Cubs have announced their season attendance at more than 3 million.There were large numbers of no-shows on many days, but major-league teams count tickets sold.