Competitive fire roars deep within Piniella

PHOENIX -- Know this about Cubs manager Lou Piniella: He hates to lose.

He doesn't care if it's the seventh game of the World Series, a mid-April game in 30-degree temperatures, or even a Cactus League exhibition.

Twice within the past week, Piniella has gone off after the Cubs lost games he felt they should have won.

The other day, Piniella said he hated the "idea of our pitching staff getting hit around, whether it's spring training or playing tiddlywinks."

Let's stop here and imagine Lou losing a game of tiddlywinks. I'm sure the tiddlies and the winks would be flying fast and furious and that you'd better duck.

Of course, there's a method to Lou's madness. He wants to set a winning tone from the get-go and avoid the disastrous start that befell the Cubs last April and May.

When I asked him if it was the losing or the bad baseball that was bothering him, he replied: "It's probably a combination. We've gotten sloppy in some of these games. Whether you're playing your regular team or your backup team, you hope to play better baseball."

Piniella lamented two botched double-play chances in Wednesday's game in Tucson against the Diamondbacks. The Cubs also have had runners thrown out at third base on grounders hit to the left side of the infield, and there also have been signs missed.

"And the pitchers that basically need to pitch well, to impress, are the ones who are struggling," Piniella said, referring mainly to the relief pitchers battling for roster spots.

"Spring training doesn't change. It's the same thing almost every year. You bring 25-30 pitchers to camp and watch them throw on the side, and you say, 'Boy, what a great collection of arms we've got this year, and we're going to have a tough choice of paring down.'

"Then you know what? Every year, the decisions are made for you quite quickly."

Shake down the thunder: Next to Brian Roberts, the player I get the most questions about is pitcher Jeff Samardzija, the former Notre Dame football star. (On Roberts, please direct all inquiries to Orioles president Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos.)

Samardzija threw a solid 2 innings and picked up a spring-training victory over the Mariners on Monday. Most important for Samardzija is the development of his secondary pitches, which should go a long way to complement his good fastball.

"I was real happy with the off-speed pitches, which are coming along," he said. "I threw probably 4 or 5 of them and I think 4 or 5 for strikes. I was happy about that. They're getting where I want them to be. There's always a little more work to do with them.

"I felt like I was confident in throwing them. I think I threw my slider 1-1 and 1-2 after that. I threw it in all situations. My changeup, I threw 0-0 and a couple other times throughout the at-bat."

One legitimate concern about Samardzija was his strikeout-to-innings pitched ratio last year. In a combined 141¿ innings between Class A Dayton and Class AA West Tenn, Samardzija struck out 65.

In the minor leagues, the numbers sometimes aren't what they seem because players are working on different aspects of their game -- such as developing second or third pitches -- rather than trying to blow hitters away.

It's possible Samardzija will be up with the big club this year, but it'll probably be later rather than sooner.

bmiles@dailyherald.com