Marquis' slam leads Cubs over stumbling Mets

NEW YORK - Cubs manager Lou Piniella threw a small curve into his team's pitching plans before Monday night's 9-5 victory over the New York Mets.

It was an important win for the National League Central champions, who officially clinched homefield advantage throughout the NL playoffs by raising their record to 95-60.

"It's a step," Piniella said. "It's an important step. You can see this year that the home field has been very important."

As for the rest of the series, left-hander Sean Marshall will start tonight in place of righty Rich Harden, who gets pushed back to Thursday.

Recalcitrant righty Carlos Zambrano stays on rotation Wednesday, but the bigger question with Zambrano is whether he gets the nod for Game 1 of the National League division series, next Wednesday at Wrigley Field.

Piniella wouldn't say, telling reporters only that he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild will set the playoff rotation this weekend in Milwaukee, where the Cubs wind up the regular season.

It could well be that Piniella elects to start Ryan Dempster in Game 1 at Wrigley. Dempster will make his final regular-season start Friday against the Brewers.

Zambrano could conceivably go in Game 2 of the NLDS, or Piniella could turn to lefty Ted Lilly for that game and have Zambrano go in Game 3, on the road. Harden could go in Game 4, as the Cubs go with a four-man rotation.

"I'm not going to talk about Game 1 or anything until we see everybody pitch and also until we find out who our opponent is," Piniella said.

Zambrano pitched just 1 innings Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and he ran afoul of Piniella when he attempted to leave the mound as Piniella was on his way to take him out of the game.

"He needs work," Piniella said. "He missed 2 starts before the no-hitter (Sept. 14), and the last start was an inning-plus. He needs work. It's obvious.

"We didn't alter his (next start). We've got him on his fifth day, and we're going to let him work as much as possible and then we'll go from there."

Piniella added that Harden, who has battled shoulder problems, "feels good, and we're going to let Harden pitch a little bit. We're going to let him have his normal workload."

Dempster will be on target to start Game 1 of the playoffs after starting Friday. Lilly will go Saturday, and Piniella said he's not sure about Sunday, but Marshall could go again.

Right-hander Jason Marquis probably won't be in the rotation, but he's a virtual lock to make the playoff roster.

He helped himself Monday, both on the mound and at the plate, hitting a fourth-inning grand slam as the Cubs rallied with 6 runs to erase a 2-1 deficit. It was Marquis' second homer of the year and the first grand slam by a Cubs pitcher since Kevin Tapani hit one off Atlanta's Denny Neagle in 1998.

Marquis had 5 RBI on the night and pitched 6 innings.

"Anytime you have a chance to help yourself, why not?" Marquis said. "I work hard on all facets of the game."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=236910">Special moment for Wood<span class="date"> [09/22/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>