Howry not worried about 18.00 ERA
MESA, Ariz. -- The last person worried about Bob Howry's spring start is Howry himself.
In his first 2 relief appearances, Howry has an 18.00 ERA, having given up 7 hits and 4 runs in 2 innings.
Howry has been a slow starter in the regular season, and manager Lou Piniella called it a "mystery" after Monday's game in Peoria against Seattle.
"It's the second outing," Howry said. "I gave up one ball that was hit hard, off the wall. I gave up a flare. I gave up 3 hits through the hole between first and second. That's not like I was throwing balls right down the middle and they were just launching them."
Of course, there is something else at work here, too.
"I think people will make a lot more of this because of the whole 'closer' thing," Howry said of the competition with Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol.
"I'm not going in this whole spring training trying to do anything different than I would in the past because I've got to prove something in three weeks. I'm out there. I'm getting ready for the season.
"If this is the last outing of the spring or the last week of the spring when these things are happening, yeah, I may be a little more concerned."
Howry pitched the ninth inning Monday. Piniella may get all of his closer candidates work earlier in games.
Nothing on Roberts: The Cubs claimed to know nothing of the information of recent radio and Internet reports that had a deal for Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts close to being done.
"There have been no active talks in any trade situation in the last five or six days," general manager Jim Hendry said. "We will continue to scout all the teams in Florida and Arizona, and if possible we will try to improve our ballclub before the end of camp."
Manager Lou Piniella claimed only partial knowledge of what's on the Internet.
"The only thing I do on the Internet is trade stocks once in awhile," Piniella said. "Just a little bit of a hobby. I don't trade infielders, and certainly, I don't read sports.
"We have scouts watching not only Baltimore but a few teams. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, if anything at all."
Font of knowledge: The Cubs wanted to take another look at Mike Fontenot playing shortstop, so they started him there Tuesday.
Fontenot, a second baseman by trade, played three games at short last year, but the Cubs quickly pulled the plug on that experiment.
"We better find out," Lou Piniella said. "The more positions that he can play, the better for him, and the better for us. So we've got to try him at shortstop.
"It's hard for any player that's competing for a spot on the roster if he can only play one infield position. It's not good for that individual. We're going to move Fontenot around a little bit … because we like his bat."
No relief: Right-handed reliever Michael Wuertz hasn't pitched yet, but Lou Piniella says there's nothing wrong, just that Wuertz needs more time to build arm strength.
Veteran Chad Fox and youngster Jose Ascanio got rocked Tuesday.
"It's still early in camp, but some of these guys aren't helping themselves," Piniella said.
Brewers 10, Cubs 6 (10)
Cubs' record: 2-4
At the plate: Kosuke Fukudome singled in the first inning and hit his first homer of the spring in the third, a solo drive to right field.
On the mound: Ryan Dempster threw 32 of his 57 pitches in the first inning, when he gave up his only run. Dempster worked 3 innings, giving up 2 hits. He walked two and struck out one. Sean Gallagher gave up a 2-run homer to Tony Gwynn Jr., who has no homers in 200 regular-season at-bats. Mike Cameron also homered off Gallagher. Kerry Wood needed only 12 pitches in a 1-2-3 sixth. Jose Ascanio gave up 4 runs in the 10th inning.
Next: The Cubs travel to Tucson to play the Arizona Diamondbacks. Carlos Zambrano pitches for the Cubs against Juan Gutierrez.
-- Bruce Miles