With year under his belt, Piniella ready to lead way

If nothing else, the managerial matchups in the National League Central should be fun to watch.

• We'll have the Dusty Baker-Lou Piniella matchup when Baker's Cincinnati Reds come to Wrigley Field. Watch for Baker to turn this into the "all of Chicago vs. poor old Dusty tour."

• There will be Dusty Baker vs. the Cardinals' Tony La Russa. Do you think Dusty will say the Cardinals have a "whole decade of what's coming," as he did when he was with the Cubs in 2003?

• Of course, we'll have Piniella vs. La Russa as the two old friends from Tampa tee it up 15 times.

The Milwaukee Brewers were last year's cute-and-cuddly pick in the NL Central before they allowed the Cubs to overtake them at the end. It looks like the Brewers will be doing the chasing most of this year. Here's how I see the NL Central unfolding from top to bottom:

1. Cubs

Piniella said he "liked" his team all of spring training last year. By June 1, it looked like Piniella hated his team and hated his job.

Once general manager Jim Hendry removed some of the sources of Piniella's discomfort, things got better.

With a year of self-described "Cubbie occurrences" under his belt, Piniella should be able to better handle what comes.

The Cubs have the best pitching staff in the division. Now, all Piniella has to do is figure out where to use his hitters. Watch for Piniella to move on-base guy Kosuke Fukudome out of the fifth spot at some point.

Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez need to provide pop so youngsters Felix Pie and Geovany Soto don't feel too much pressure.

2. Milwaukee Brewers

One thing for sure is that the Brewers have one scary-looking lineup with Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Bill Hall in the middle. Moving Braun from third base to left field and Hall from center field to third base should help everybody.

The Brewers will score runs. The only problem will be how many their questionable pitching staff allows.

3. Cincinnati Reds

Baker has a way of working his first-year magic. Think back to 2003 with the Cubs, at least before the magic ran out in the playoffs.

Like the Brewers, the Reds have a potent lineup, with on-base-and-slugging machine Adam Dunn in the middle. Reds fans ought to hope Baker doesn't discourage Dunn from taking too many of those "base-clogging" walks.

With any Baker-led team, the things to watch will be how hard Dusty rides his starting pitchers and how much he lets his young players play.

4. St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals will open the season with a starting rotation of Adam Wainwright, Braden Looper, Kyle Lohse, Todd Wellemeyer and Brad Thompson.

If La Russa can get the Cards off to a good start with this group before the injured reinforcements come off the disabled list, he truly is a genius.

Mark Mulder, Matt Clement and Chris Carpenter were among seven players put on the DL in late March.

Superstar Albert Pujols has a torn ligament in his right elbow, but it didn't seem to bother his hitting in spring training. Can Skip Schumaker lead off, and can former pitcher Rick Ankiel excel as an outfielder?

5. Pittsburgh Pirates

Hey, this is progress. Somebody is picking the Pirates not to finish last.

The poor Buccos are riding a streak of 15 consecutive losing seasons, and that's not likely to change under new manager John Russell.

What the Pirates have going for them is a surprisingly strong rotation of Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell, Paul Maholm, Zach Duke and Matt Morris.

Jason Bay leads what passes for an offense.

6. Houston Astros

We'll see how big an impact shortstop Miguel Tejada has on the Houston offense, which also features Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence.

The big problem is the starting rotation, which features Roy Oswalt as the only sure thing.

Hard to believe the Astros were in the World Series in 2005, isn't it?