Eyre's injury creates situation

The Cubs are a man short in their bullpen while playing in a hitter's paradise.

But as manager Lou Piniella pointed out Friday, there aren't a whole lot of minor-league alternatives at the moment to lefty Scott Eyre, who strained his left groin Thursday and was unavailable Friday.

The Cubs will evaluate Eyre each day to determine whether to put him on the disabled list.

"I've been on the bike three or four times already today," Eyre said. "Just basically rehab it. They don't want to do the DL yet."

Eyre faced three batters in Thursday's 11-4 loss to the Orioles and said he felt pain after the first pitch to the second batter, Nick Markakis.

"I felt great in the bullpen all week long warming up," he said. "No problem. No stiffness. No tightness. The first slider that I threw to Markakis, I was like, 'Ooh, that doesn't feel so good.

"I stretched a little on the mound and tried to throw him another fastball. 'It kind of hurts a little bit.' That's why I bent over on the mound to try and stretch it. Right after that they came out to see how I was."

If the Cubs have to put Eyre on the DL, their most viable left-handed option is Carmen Pignatiello, who opened the season with the Cubs. He pitched 1 innings Thursday for Class AAA Iowa. For the season, he's 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

Righty Jose Ascanio, who also has logged time with the Cubs, is just getting into the swing of things after a death in the family.

Soriano better: Left fielder Alfonso Soriano had another X-ray taken Friday of his broken left hand, and the Cubs were encouraged.

The Cubs say Soriano is clear to do range-of-motion and strengthening exercises without the splint he has been wearing. Soriano suffered a broken fourth metacarpal June 11. The original timetable called for him to be out a total of six weeks, but the Cubs are hoping he can return sooner.

Edmonds sore: Center fielder Jim Edmonds was hobbling around after Friday's game. His left foot, which has been bothering him for two weeks, appeared to get a tweak when he hit first base on one play. He said it was more getting out of the batter's box that hurt him.

"It's all right; sore," he said. "It's not worth talking about."

Oh, Boise: It was a good day for a lot of new faces Thursday at Class A Boise. Naperville native Mike Perconte pitched 4 innings of 1-hit shutout relief to earn his first victory as the Hawks beat Everett 10-1. Perconte recently signed as a free agent. He is the son of former big-leaguer Jack Perconte.

"Sandwich-round" pick Ryan Flaherty, out of Vanderbilt, went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and 3 RBI.

Michael Brenly, son of Cubs TV analyst Bob Brenly, had a pair of RBI and hit the ball hard, according to his dad.

Double his displeasure: First baseman Derrek Lee grounded into 2 double plays, giving him 19 for the year. He entered the game tied for the league lead.

"I've had double-play-itis this year," Lee said. "I don't know what's going on with the double play, but with bases loaded, runner on third and not outs, just trying to get it into the air. I just got over the top of it, rolled over it."