Piniella lights ... a spark
Just 10 days ago, Lou Piniella assured everyone he's no dragon.
Specifically, the Cubs manager declared, "What do I need to show fire for? I'm not a dragon."
But if that's the truth, then why did the Cubs dugout and clubhouse smell a lot like roasted rump after Piniella got through with unhappy outfielder Milton Bradley on Friday afternoon?
And was it more than a coincidence that, barely 15 minutes after Piniella lit into Bradley, the Cubs rallied to turn a tie game into what became a riveting 5-4 victory over the White Sox?
Here was the soap-operatic series of events as the Cubs took a 2-1 series lead before an announced sellout crowd at U.S. Cellular Field that pretty much left the fighting to the Cubs:
• In the top of the sixth, Bradley flies weakly to left field - seemingly a vast improvement over his pair of ugly-looking strikeouts earlier in the game.
Nonetheless, Bradley heads toward the dugout, fires his helmet to the ground and attacks the Gatorade cooler.
• Piniella tells Bradley he's tired of seeing the same old stuff from him and the Cubs right fielder should shed his uniform and head home.
• Just one inning later, Geovany Soto smokes a 3-run homer to center to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 Cubs lead that holds up.
Now, let's don our shield and enter the dragon's postgame lair: So what's up with you and Bradley?
"I'm done with it," Piniella said.
Does that mean Bradley's on his way out of Chicago? Not even close. Piniella said Bradley will be in the lineup for the 3:10 p.m. game on Saturday.
Since Bradley didn't stick around to speak, let's look back at a few quotes from Bradley's news conference in January when he signed with the Cubs as a free agent.
"All I want to do is win," he said that day. "I'm a guy that I believe can make a difference and get (the Cubs) to that next level."
Unwittingly, he might have done just that on Friday as the Cubs snapped a four-game losing streak and moved back to .500 for the year.
Fox just rocks:
Jake Fox played in his 24th major-league game on Friday.
How can Lou Piniella stop that number from growing on a daily basis since the 26-year-old is mashing everything in sight at the plate?
One day after ripping a homer, single and double in that order at Detroit, Fox lined a double, homer and single against White Sox starter Jose Contreras on Friday.
Perhaps more important, he was flawless on all six balls hit to him at third base - the makeshift home for the former catcher.
"The credit goes to (Cubs coaches) Alan Trammell and Ivan DeJesus," Fox said. "They've been doing a great job. They've been working really hard with me, and I've been working really hard. I think it's nice for them to see it pay off and it's nice for me to see it pay off, too."
Spoken like a five-year veteran instead of a five-week rookie.
The Marshall Plan:
Sometimes baseball looks so easy when executed according to plan.
Cubs reliever Sean Marshall might have been the player of the game on Friday - and he played for all of one pitch.
Here was the scene: The White Sox had the Cubs on the ropes in the eighth inning. They scored 2 runs to pull within 5-4 and loaded the bases with just one out.
When the Sox sent up left-handed A.J. Pierzynski to pinch-hit for Ramon Castro, the Cubs brought in the left-handed Marshall from the bullpen. His thoughts?
"Just stay off-speed," Marshall said. "I was trying to get a first-pitch strike and threw a curveball."
Pierzynski bounced it to first baseman Derrek Lee, who was playing in on the grass for just that reason. Lee started a 3-2-3 double play to end the inning and ruin the Sox' best chance to rally.
Just re-second-guessing:
In the ninth inning of last week's series finale at Wrigley Field, Alfonso Soriano delivered a walk-off single against Sox reliever Matt Thornton when Ozzie Guillen declined to walk Soriano intentionally.
In the ninth inning on Friday, the exact same situation cropped up and Guillen elected to walk Soriano intentionally. The move paid off as Thornton retired Kosuke Fukudome to keep the Sox deficit at 5-4.
Just sayin'.