Piniella keeping things in perspective

Others might be giddy over the Cubs' success, but not manager Lou Piniella.

A day after laughing off the suggestion that the Cubs might be a team of destiny, Piniella cautioned everyone not to get too carried away just yet.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," Piniella said Saturday before the Cubs had their seven-game winning streak snapped with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.

"People look at our situation and we still have 27 games to play here (26 after Saturday). It's not like we have seven or eight," Piniella said. "All we've done to date is gotten ourselves in position to go to the playoffs, nothing more, nothing less."

The Cubs' offense looked a lot like it did in the playoffs last October, handcuffed for the most part by Phillies starter Brett Myers.

Myers (8-10) worked into the eighth inning, striking out eight and allowing 11 hits - all singles. The Cubs left nine men on base, six in scoring position.

"We just squandered too many opportunities, left too many men on base," Piniella said. "You can't do it every day."

Ted Lilly (13-8) took the loss in a game in which he pitched well enough to win. He left in the seventh trailing 3-1, but reliever Neal Cotts couldn't keep the game close in the eighth when he surrendered home runs to Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.

Werth had 2 homers and drove in 4 runs.

"Ted gave us a chance to win, but we couldn't get any runs for him," Ryan Theriot said.

Werth's bases-loaded, 2-run single with two outs off Lilly in the sixth inning snapped a 1-1 tie. It came after Lilly thought Shane Victorino leaned out over the plate to intentionally get hit by a pitch.

"Victorino, I thought, leaned out over the plate on a ball that might have been over the plate," Lilly said. "But that's kind of his game. He's a rally starter, and unfortunately that works sometimes."

Lilly questioned the play but said plate umpire Chris Guccione didn't see Victorino lean out.

"Trying to put myself in the umpire's shoes for a second, that's kind of the last thing you expect, is a guy to lean out over the plate and get hit by a pitch," Lilly said. "He didn't see it that way, but I had a different angle, the opposite angle he had."

Lilly thought first-base umpire Tim Welke missed another call on his sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning. After Howard fielded the bunt, Guccione ruled the Phillies' first baseman missed the tag, while crew chief Welke called Lilly out on the tag.

"I did not feel a tag, and I looked at the tape and didn't see it either," Lilly said.

A safe call would have loaded the bases with one out for Alfonso Soriano. As it was, Soriano grounded out with runners at second and third to end the inning.

Soriano was 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts.

The Cubs tried to rally in the eighth. But after 3 straight singles by Theriot, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez chased Myers, reliever J.C. Romero fanned pinch hitters Reed Johnson and Ronny Cedeno. He then struck out Geovany Soto looking after a walk to Kosuke Fukudome loaded the bases.

"You can't win every single day," Ramirez said. "That's a pretty good team on the other side."