Marmol sure won't suffer from boredom

It's not for lack of trust that Lou Piniella chose Kevin Gregg over Carlos Marmol.

If anything, it's that the Cubs manager has so much trust in Marmol that Piniella needs his security blanket to get him to the ninth inning, before he can get through the ninth inning.

Two years ago nearly half of Marmol's 59 appearances went longer than an inning, and last season Piniella managed to cut that down to 22 percent of Marmol's 82 outings lasting an inning-plus.

But half of his longer outings came in the first eight weeks of 2008, and Marmol had an awful June, his worst month as a big-leaguer in that role, directly following the busy start.

Marmol was second in the majors in holds in 2008 with 30, and no playoff team had a holds leader with a higher percentage of inning-plus outings than Marmol.

That's a lot of work for the 26-year-old and proves only that Piniella has a lack of faith in the rest of the bullpen, not any lack of belief that Marmol can close.

Marmol's still destined to be the Cubs' closer at some point, maybe even sometime this season, but Piniella is more concerned with the seventh and eighth innings right now than he is with the ninth, and he knows he can go longer with Marmol as a setup man.

Until Piniella gains some confidence in someone else down there, you can be certain he'll ride Marmol, hoping to abuse him less than he did last year and certainly not as much as two years ago.

"One thing that we're going to try to do with Carlos is try to stay as short as we can with him," Piniella said after making the decision. "We're going to try that. It means, basically, that we need a few other pitchers (to help).''

Piniella has included Aaron Heilman, Luis Vizcaino and Neal Cotts among those who can lighten Marmol's load, but he hasn't sounded exactly confident that he has the arms with a week to go before the opener.

So while Marmol is understandably disappointed that he didn't win the job, it's not because Piniella thinks he can't handle it, or because of Marmol's troubles in the WBC.

It's that he needs him sooner than the ninth.

For Marmol's sake, let's hope it's not too much before the eighth.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

The Hawks had no answer - or deterrent - Sunday for the Duncan Keith incident, or the hits on Troy Brouwer and Niklas Hjalmarsson.

The answer isn't in cheap shots, ugly brawls or running goalies.

I've said it at least a dozen times this year, and I'll say it again: The Blackhawks need a heavyweight, and not one who ignores overtures from the genuine heavys to go after smaller players.

Hate to beat a dead horse, especially since it's too late in the year to do anything, but one of these days a Hawks skill player is going to get taken out if they don't get this situation under control.

Local pride

That cheering you heard in Schaumburg on Saturday was for Villanova's Scottie Reynolds, who beat Pitt with a last-second jumper.

Reynolds graduated from Schaumburg's Hellen Keller Junior High in 2002 before his family moved to Virginia.

Villanova takes on top seed North Carolina at the Final Four in Detroit on Saturday at 7:47 p.m.

Catching on

Hard not to be happy for Koyie Hill, who won the Cubs' backup catcher's job Monday, and not just because he has made it all the way back from that horrific table-saw disaster that nearly cost him the use of a hand.

Hill is an excellent handler of pitchers and has earned a chance to stick in the big leagues.

The flip side

Have to feel bad for White Sox second baseman Jayson Nix, who appeared to be winning the job until he pulled a quad. Nix has had some very tough luck the last couple of years, and this continues that run.

"It's too bad because he was doing so good and making all the plays,'' Ozzie Guillen said. "Now, he just needs to heal.''

Rolling green

Carried once again by the majesty of Tiger Woods, NBC scored the biggest ratings Sunday for any non-major PGA Tour event in two years, and a 23 percent increase over last year's Arnie.

It also easily outdrove the two majors in which Tiger didn't play in 2008 and was the highest-rated Tour event since Woods' victory in last year's U.S. Open.

Just asking

Got an e-mail last week that announced, "NBA Legend B.J. Armstrong Appears At Local Chicago School.''

Good for B.J. for appearing at a local school and all that, but on what planet was I when Armstrong became an NBA legend, and what does this mean for Sam Vincent?

And finally -

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Terrell Owens didn't show up for the Buffalo Bills' voluntary conditioning camp, but it's not like he's not thinking about his new team. He asked the Bills to mail him a photo of coach Dick Jauron so T.O. will know who to yell at when he doesn't get enough passes.''

brozner@dailyherald.com