Marmol recovers save skills

Reliever Carlos Marmol has appeared in three straight games, but that doesn't rule him out against Houston today if the situation begs for his right arm.

Marmol notched his sixth save of the season Sunday and needed only 15 pitches to do it.

"He didn't throw many pitches," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "He was nice and sharp. We gave him a real, really, really good breather after the all-star break. I think he pitched in one out of six or so games.

"We'll see how he feels. I don't think he's pitched four days in a row yet this year, but if we get in a position to win a baseball game tomorrow, we'll see what we'll do. I'm not sure."

Marmol has not surrendered a run in 8 appearances since the break and has converted each of his 3 save opportunities.

One pitcher who won't see the mound in tonight's nationally televised game at 6:05 p.m. is reliever Jeff Samardzija, who pitched 2 scoreless innings against the Pirates on Sunday.

"We won't use him at all," Piniella said. "When you see us use him back to back it will be 1 inning-1 inning. It won't be 2 innings-2 innings or 2 innings-1 inning. We've got to watch this young man's arm, and we will."

A starting pitcher in the minor leagues, Samardzija has yet to appear in back-to-back games as a Cubs reliever.

Let me hit, coach: Carlos Zambrano went 1-for-2 with a fourth-inning double that scored Geovany Soto to make it 4-2 Cubs. "Big Z" would prefer to swing away, of course, even in situations that call for sacrifice bunts.

"When I ask him to bunt he says, 'How do you ask a .350 hitter to bunt?' " Lou Piniella said, smiling. "I always get that response from him. I said, 'Rod Carew bunted and he won some batting titles.'"

Diamond or gridiron? While Lou Piniella was addressing the media in the dugout during batting practice Sunday morning, former University of Pennsylvania quarterback Mark DeRosa tossed a football around with - who else? - former Notre Dame All-America wide receiver Jeff Samardzija.

Is there a better football-playing tandem anywhere in Major League Baseball?

"I doubt that very much, and you can print that," Samardzija said.