Lilly not overlooked this time

How ironic that Ted Lilly and Mark Buehrle both are going to baseball's All-Star Game.

Lilly was named the Cubs' lone representative on the National League team Sunday and Buehrle the White Sox lone representative on the American League team.

This will be interesting because for a long time it seemed that Lilly and Buehrle were the same pitcher with different profiles.

"We're both left-handed," Lilly deadpanned after helping the Cubs beat the Brewers 8-2.

Beyond throwing arms, both Lilly and Buehrle are in their early 30s, sort of crafty on the mound, willing to take the ball whenever the manager offers it, great in the clubhouse and, most important, winners.

"I guess we do a few things different as far as our approach," Lilly did say.

He mentioned that he throws more sliders and Buehrle throws more cutters, but that's inside pitching that's a little too boring.

More interesting is how Lilly seems to be viewed around the major leagues compared to how Buehrle is.

Buehrle likely is considered better of the two even though Lilly has more victories since arriving in Chicago before the 2007 season.

Even if Buehrle is superior, the gap simply can't be as wide as him being the Sox' No. 1 starter and Lilly being the Cubs' No. 4 or at best No. 3.

The Sox never would consider going into a best-of-five playoff series and not pitching Buehrle in one of the first three games.

Yet the Dodgers swept the Cubs last October without Lilly ever getting to pitch. He waited behind Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden for a Game 4 that never came.

"At the end of the day," Lilly said Sunday, "the manager is going to put the best team on the field in his mind. We as players always think we should be a part of it."

Yet when Lilly wasn't last autumn he didn't complain and he isn't complaining now. He's just trying to pitch well enough to help the Cubs qualify for the playoffs again and assure himself of starting a game.

"Last year the guys pitching in front of me had great years," Lilly said. "I didn't feel I had the right to pitch in front of them."

You can hear from that that Lilly is as understated about himself as others are about him. Maybe understated translates into underrated because this guy is taken for granted a bit and often an afterthought despite now being an all-star once in each league.

If Lilly keeps it up and the Cubs kick it in, Piniella would have to give him the ball in the playoffs, right?

"Hopefully we'll get in position to get into October again," Lilly said as the Cubs chase the Cardinals and the Brewers in the NL Central.

Hey, as long as we're October dreaming, how about Lilly facing Buehrle in the World Series?

"What a great pitcher," Lilly said of his South Side southpaw counterpart. "I have a great amount of respect for him."

Lilly himself wasn't too bad Sunday and for his trouble received a couple of standing ovations from Cubs fans to go with an all-star invitation from the National League.

Maybe his days of being underappreciated and overlooked have ended.