Rotating rotation?
Fresh off of taking two of three in a key series with the Brewers, the Cubs had nothing going for them in a 6-1 loss to the Houston Astros.
"That had nothing to do with it," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said, dismissing any talk of a letdown. "We just didn't hit or pitch good."
On a day when the Cubs traded for a sixth starting pitcher before the game in Steve Trachsel, one of the five already on hand didn't get the job done. Left-hander Sean Marshall couldn't make it out of the fourth inning and left trailing 4-0 after allowing 5 hits and walking four.
With Piniella saying he planned to use a "modified" six-man rotation for the last month, it could be Marshall losing his every-fifth-day spot.
"It's up to management and the skipper what he wants to do next," said Marshall, who has only 3 wins in his last 11 starts. "I'm just going to try to keep pitching well enough to stay in there."
Marshall (7-7) said he was a "little bit" surprised to hear the team went out and traded for another starter.
"We'll see," Marshall said. "We got a nice veteran pitcher on our staff, and he's played a lot of years. I don't know what they plan on doing, but we'll find out soon enough."
Piniella said the right-handed Trachsel would start one of the games in the Dodgers series next week. With Carlos Zambrano scheduled to pitch Monday and Ted Lilly on Tuesday, Trachsel could take Marshall's turn Wednesday.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild wouldn't go so far as to call what the Cubs are planning a six-man rotation.
"It's probably going to be a little bit of right and left (matchup), according to the teams we're facing," Rothschild said. "That's probably what we're looking at."
The Cubs lost to another left-handed starter in the Astros' Wandy Rodriguez, who gave up 4 hits and struck out five in 6 shutout innings.
"He shut us down," said Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee. "You tip your cap, but it's frustrating."
Lee said the inconsistency of the offense of late isn't limited to left-handed starters.
"We need to do a better job putting pressure on all pitchers," Lee said. "We have to get on base more and cause havoc."
The 3 runs Houston scored in the fourth inning off Marshall on rookie Hunter Pence's home run were unearned thanks to an error by third baseman Aramis Ramirez.
Pence added a 2-run homer in the sixth off reliever Michael Wuertz.
Now the calendar turns to September with the Cubs looking to hang on to first place.
"So here we are, and it's there for us to take," Piniella said. "We just have to go out and grab it."
Astros 6, Cubs 1
At the plate: Aramis Ramirez had 3 of the Cubs' 7 hits, all singles, and Daryle Ward delivered an RBI single pinch-hitting in the eighth inning. The top of the batting order -- Ryan Theriot, Mark DeRosa and Derrek Lee -- went 1-for-12.
On the mound: Starter Sean Marshall left in the fourth inning, trailing 4-0. Only 1 run was earned, but Marshall walked four and gave up a 3-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth to make it 4-0. Kerry Wood pitched 2 innings in relief, his longest outing of the season. He struck out two and didn't allow a hit.
-- Tim Sassone