A few concerns as Cubs bide their time

MILWAUKEE - The Cubs' goodwill tour of the wild-card world landed at Miller Park on Friday night.

The Milwaukee Brewers, playing before a surprisingly pro-Brewers crowd of 44,084 at "Wrigley Field North," got the best of the Cubs 5-1 and took a 1-game lead in the wild-card race over the New York Mets, who lost to Florida.

The Milwaukee victory also eliminated Houston from postseason consideration, meaning the Cubs won't have to go there Monday for a makeup game. If the season ended Friday night, the Cubs would play the Dodgers in the division series.

Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster did his part, working 5 reasonably strong innings as he tuned up for next Wednesday's Game 1 start in the National League division series.

Overall, though, Cubs manager Lou Piniella wasn't thrilled with a couple of developments, but he voiced optimism.

"We're in a little bit of what you'd call a transition position right now, but we'll be fine by the time Wednesday comes along," he said. "We'll get everything back in place. We're doing the best we can, but right now, you've got to have a little patience."

There were a couple of things that had Piniella concerned:

• Catcher Geovany Soto left the game in the sixth inning when he fouled off a pitch. He felt some pain in his troublesome left hand but later said he was fine and that he could play this weekend.

• The bullpen got a bit of a beating. Sean Marshall (3-5) took the loss. Jeff Samardzija gave up a single that allowed a run to score. And most worrisome for Piniella, Chad Gaudin balked and gave up a 3-run homer to Rickie Weeks in the seventh inning.

"We've been trying to get Gaudin ready for postseason, and that's not coming along very well," Piniella said.

Gaudin appears to be battling Samardzija for the final bullpen spot for the first round. Michael Wuertz resurfaced Friday with a scoreless inning. Gaudin was out from Aug. 29 until Sept. 21 because of a sore lower back.

"I'm good," Gaudin said. "Some things didn't go my way. I was out there making good pitches. I was strong. I was throwing hard. I did make one mistake, and I paid for it."

Gaudin knows what's at stake.

"Of course," he said. "If I said I wasn't (thinking about it), I'd be lying. You've got to go out there and get outs, and so far, I haven't been doing that."

Dempster pitched 5 innings and gave up 4 hits and 1 run in his final outing before the playoffs. Although the games have not been meaningful for the Cubs since they clinched the National League Central last Saturday, they've been meaningful for the Mets and Brewers this week as they've combined to take three of five from the Cubs.

"It's been the nicest part for us, that we're playing teams it means something to, because it brings out the best in our competition and gets us prepared for the playoffs and what we need to do," Dempster said. "We're going out there, and we're trying to win every game we play, too."

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