Bullpen backfires as Cubs lose to D'backs 3-1

PHOENIX -- For an entire baseball season, Lou Piniella had been pretty much free of the second-guess.That all ended Wednesday night in the most important forum of Piniella's first year as Cubs manager -- the playoffs.With his team tied at 1-1 with the Arizona Diamondbacks after six innings, Piniella decided to pull ace pitcher Carlos Zambrano in favor of Carlos Marmol.The moved backfired big time as Marmol gave up a leadoff home run to Mark Reynolds and another run in the seventh as the D'backs took the all-important Game 1 of this best-of-five National League division series 3-1 at Chase Field.Piniella's move would not have been so perplexing had he not said he'd allow Zambrano to throw upward of 110 pitches.The immediate question after the game was whether Zambrano had suffered another bout of muscle cramps.Piniella struck a defiant tone."No, he wasn't cramping," Piniella said. "In fact, he probably could have gone another inning. We're thinking of putting him back in on Sunday on three days' rest. Eighty-five pitches, our bullpen has done a good job all year. We turned it over to them."Of course, there may not be a Game 4 in this series, and Piniella may face charges of looking too far ahead."I'm not accused of anything, sir," he fired back to one inquisitor. "I've got a good bullpen here, OK, and I trust my bullpen. I'm bringing back a pitcher on three days' rest on Sunday, and I took a shot with my bullpen. It didn't work today."Zambrano gave up 4 hits and 1 run over his 6 innings. That run came in the fourth, when Stephen Drew broke a scoreless tie with a monster 432-foot home run to right-center leading off.A workhorse who threw as many as 128 pitches in one game this season, Zambrano played the good soldier even though it no doubt pained him to exit early."He's the manager," Zambrano said. "That's all I can say. I don't have an answer for that question. You have to ask that question to him. My job here is pitching, and his job is to manage the game, manage our team, and so far, he's been doing a good job. He got us to the postseason."But did Zambrano want to stay in the game?"You know me," he replied. "I want to pitch every game. I can throw 120 pitches."Zambrano hooked up in classic playoff duel with Arizona ace Brandon Webb, who worked 7 innings of 4-hit, 1-run ball.It appeared the Cubs were intent on swinging away early before allowing Webb to set the agenda. Jacque Jones did work a walk in the first inning, but Derrek Lee struck out and Aramis Ramirez grounded out.Jones batting second was a surprise switch Piniella sprung. His original lineup had Ryan Theriot batting second against righty Webb."Webb was on his game," Lee said. "He had his stuff working. He pitched a good game. Z pitched a great game. Tonight was a pitchers duel, and they got the better of us tonight."The Cubs stranded one runner in each of the first five innings. They finally broke through in the sixth. Lee opened with a single, and two outs later, Webb walked Mark DeRosa and Geovany Soto. Ryan Theriot's chopper bounced over the head of Reynolds.Shortstop Augie Ojeda backed up the play, holding Theriot to a single that scored only 1.Zambrano struck out to end the inning, with Piniella defending the decision to let him hit by noting Zambrano's double in the third and his hard lineout in the fifth.Zambrano seemed re-energized in the bottom of the inning, reaching 96 mph on his fastball, but he was done after that."Anytime he comes out of the game, it's kind of a sigh of relief," Reynolds said.After Reynolds' homer off Marmol. broke the tie, the game set up nicely for the D'backs and their bullpen of Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde, who earned the save."Today, Marmol couldn't get his breaking ball over," Piniella said. "But the reason we didn't win this game was we scored 1 run on 4 hits. You're not going to win on the road, or you're not going to win anywhere, getting 4 hits and scoring 1 run. I give their pitching credit, but that's probably the story of the bullpen."Piniella also maintained it's still early in the series."Listen, you guys, this is only the first game," he said. "There's a lot of baseball to be played in this series, OK? It's not gloom and doom, this thing. Let's just keep positive, keep playing and go out and win a ballgame tomorrow." 512346Cubs' pitcher Carlos Marmol reacts on the bench after giving up two runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks.Associated Press 305512Diamondback Jeff Salazar, left, greets Mark Reynolds after his home run in the seventh inning.Ed Lee | Staff Photographer