'Stevie Ire' happy to be contributing

SAN FRANCISCO -- At least left-hander Scott Eyre hasn't lost his sense of humor.

When asked Wednesday whether he feels "part of it" now that he's pitching more, he replied: "I felt like part of it. We lost a lot of games 10-1. I got to pitch in a lot of them"

But seriously, the Cubs' reliever looks to be part of the mix again in crucial situations after righting his situation in the second half.

"I do," he said of feeling important again. "It's a little easier when you're involved in the game more, games that mean something. I don't want to say that it makes it easier to cheer, be a cheerleader, because that's me. I'm always up and jumping around.

"It is a lot easier. It's bad to say that, it really is because when I struggled, I didn't want to do that. It makes it hard to do that when you're pitching bad."

At the all-star break, Eyre was 0-1 with a 6.60 ERA. He had given up 43 hits and 21 walks in 30 innings. He earned the victory Tuesday night by pitching an important 1-2-3 eighth as the Cubs rallied with 5 runs in the ninth inning to beat the Giants 5-1.

Entering Wednesday, Eyre had a 1.74 ERA (2 earned runs in 10½ innings) in 12 games since the break.

He credited pitching coach Larry Rothschild with helping him to keep from opening up too early and the trainers for getting him through some "elbow issues."

"I don't even think about the first half anymore," he said. "Everybody has a rough stretch. Mine just happened to be in some big games, and it happened to be two months long."

Manager Lou Piniella has shown all year he's going to play those who produce and sit those who don't. In Eyre's case, he was relegated to mop-up duty during his struggles.

"He has a point," Eyre said. "We were trying to win games; we're not trying to get me right. We weren't winning them, and I was getting to pitch when I could. Is it hard? Heck, yeah, it is, because you want to participate. I'm used to pitching every day."

Eyre politely stayed away from Piniella's penchant to get his name wrong. Sometimes, Piniella refers to Eyre as "Stevie Ire."

"I'm not even talking about it," he said. "I don't care. If I say something about it, it's in the paper and he reads it and gets mad. … You know what? The guy in Yankee Stadium, the p.a. announcer, called me 'Ire' my first big-league start in Yankee Stadium. I don't care. I still made the start.

"I hope he keeps calling me that because Scott Eyre didn't pitch so good the first half. Stevie's pitching good."

Another test: Alfonso Soriano took batting practice and ran the bases during b.p. Wednesday. At one point, he deftly leaped over a batted ball hit his way on the basepath.

"We'll get a much better indication today after this workout where he's at," Lou Piniella said before batting practice. "I'm curious to see myself."

The Cubs will know more this morning when they see how Soriano and his injured right quadriceps responds. He has been on the disabled list since Aug. 6.

Looking ahead: The Cubs will host the Milwaukee Brewers in a big series next Tuesday-Thursday. Lou Piniella said his pitchers, as of now, are Rich Hill, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly.