Piniella proud of Cubs' swagger, quiet confidence

MIAMI - Lou Piniella is the one who invented the term "Cubbie swagger" last year in his first spring training as manager.

He hadn't brought it up much since then, but on Saturday, he said he got something of a touching reminder.

"I had a good friend call who has watched us play," Piniella said. "He said, 'Boy, your team's got some swagger. I never thought of it. It made me feel good. I got choked up when he told me that. That's what you want - the team's got a little swagger. And I didn't bring it up. He just noticed it himself from watching our games.

"It's a quiet confidence, yes."

The Cubs have good reason to possess a swagger. They entered Saturday with a record of 75-47, best in the National League and second best behind the Angels in the major leagues.

Piniella seemed happy with how the Cubs acted after Friday night's comeback win over the Marlins. They doused Daryle Ward with beer after Ward's ninth-inning homer, but that seemed more for Ward's benefit because he had been struggling.

"They had fun with Ward, and they knew they had a ballgame today," Piniella said.

Entering Saturday, the Cubs were 17-5 since Alfonso Soriano came off the disabled list. That has ended talk, at least for now, that Soriano isn't a good leadoff hitter.

"We're playing good baseball," Piniella said. "There are reasons for it. First of all, we've got good personnel. We get after it hard every day. Our pitching, combination of starting and bullpen, gives us a chance. We've improved our defensive play. We're getting timely hitting, like we did last night.

"I caution. Don't get too excited. We've still got 40 games to go, and there's a lot of work to be done. Just got to keep playing, just keep winning series."

Another motivating factor for the Cubs' "quiet confidence" might be the memory of the three-and-out playoff last October against Arizona.

"Our season ended so abruptly," Piniella said. "Nobody expected to be swept. I'm not saying that we felt we were a World Series team or anything, but we didn't think our season would end three games into the playoffs. That was the theme this spring. We've got some unfinished business."

And while it's business, Piniella maintains it's also fun.

"I'm going to tell you what: This is not an easy job," he said. "But I am having fun. I use my coaches a lot. We've got a wonderful coaching staff here. I utilize their talents. And I let the players play. They all know I have confidence in all of them because they all get in there to play."