Rotation shifts since Marquis will miss start

PITTSBURGH -- Jason Marquis was straining just to talk Thursday.

Marquis said he has strep throat, and as a result, he'll miss tonight's scheduled start in the series opener at Philadelphia.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella has moved up his Nos. 1 and 2 starters, Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly. Zambrano will start tonight, and Lilly will go Saturday.

If Marquis is OK by Sunday, he'll pitch the series finale. If not, Piniella can turn to lefty Sean Marshall, who earned his first big-league save in Wednesday's 15-inning victory over the Pirates.

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Zambrano and Lilly will be going on their regular rest because of the off-day in the schedule Tuesday.

Taking time: Felix Pie was all smiles before Thursday's game. Pie got the game-winning hit in the 15th inning Wednesday night, and he was back in the starting lineup

"I feel good, excited, real happy," Pie said. "I did the job, so keep going. If the manager needs me, I'll be ready off the bench or to play. I love this game, and to win the game like that is something you can't explain."

Piniella has preached opposite-field hitting for Pie, a left-handed batter. He hit his game-winner to left field Wednesday night.

"The ones who get it quickest are the ones who have the most success," Piniella said. "It wouldn't be a bad idea for the young minor-league prospects where they're forced to go to the opposite field at least once a game, whether they like it or not. It teaches them how to hit. It teaches them to stay on pitches."

Pie said he understands.

"It makes me more quick, hitting the ball to left field," Pie said. "I stayed back and hit it to left. When I went to home plate, I made that adjustment."

Pie was called out on strikes twice Thursday and was double-switched out of the game.

No argument here: Unlike White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who is feuding with umpire Phil Cuzzi, Lou Piniella says he has no such problems.

"Umpires are all my buddies," Piniella said.

Piniella is a fiery person who has been kicked out of 60 games as a manager, but just once with the Cubs, last June. That dirt-kicking, cap-throwing episode earned him a four-game suspension. Now airing on TV is a commercial for bottled water, in which Piniella gets into a mock argument with an umpire.

"The concern that I have was that when I got kicked out, the league basically discouraged me from theatrics," he said. "So here I was doing a commercial with theatrics. I made sure it went through the league, and they approved it, and then I did it."

Those kinds of theatrics weren't always discouraged. After all, Piniella played under manager Billy Martin with the Yankees, a team owned by George Steinbrenner.

"I learned in New York from Billy (Martin) and from Mr. Steinbrenner," Piniella said. "Mr. Steinbrenner used to tell me, 'Look, part of your job is to put fannies in the seats. If you get kicked out of a game, put on a show.' I guess the league doesn't like that. So we do away with it."