Kendall gets comfortable

Jason Kendall knew he had some serious fitting in to do after he was acquired by the Cubs on July 16 from Oakland.

As a catcher, not only would he need to adjust to hitting in the National League, he had to learn to handle a new pitching staff.

Consider Kendall settled in on both counts.

Kendall had a double, a walk and he scored a run in Wednesday night's 5-4 victory over the Phillies at Wrigley Field that put the Cubs in a first-place tie with Milwaukee.

Kendall struck out with the bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, but that was quickly forgotten when the winning run came home on a wild pitch by Brett Myers with Cliff Floyd batting next.

Hitting is not why Kendall landed on the North Side. He gives the Cubs better defense behind the plate than Michael Barrett was supplying and also calls a stronger game.

Kendall said he has found a comfort zone handling all of the pitchers on the staff.

"Just seeing what their stuff does, because everybody is different," Kendall said. "You have to get the trust aspect of it also. But these guys, it's a good pitching staff, and that's the name of the game.

"I definitely feel a lot more comfortable and ready to go out and have a good two months and see what we can do."

Kendall has reached base safely in the last six games and came into Wednesday's game hitting .375 over that stretch with a .444 on-base percentage.

In Tuesday's 7-3 win over the Phillies, Kendall had a big 2-run single in the seventh.

"The bottom line is we're winning," Kendall said.

On Wednesday, Kendall helped starter Rich Hill through a rocky first inning when the Phillies scored just once after loading the bases with no outs. But the Phillies tied it in the fifth and Hill was gone after 4 hits and 2 walks.

Before the game, Cubs manager Lou Piniella talked of Hill sometimes being his own worst enemy. Hill has only 1 victory in his last 9 starts.

"He's a young pitcher that's still learning the ropes up here," Piniella said. "He fights himself at times. He wants to be a little bit of a perfectionist, which is really not to his good."