Bradley not even day to day anymore

ST. LOUIS - Cubs manager Lou Piniella won't even list right fielder Milton Bradley as "day to day" anymore.

Bradley was a late scratch Saturday because of inflammation in his left knee. He left Thursday's game against Milwaukee in the sixth inning because the knee bothered him, and he did not play Friday.

"Yeah," Piniella said with a sigh. "I don't know. I'm not going to say 'day to day.' That's all we talk about is shutting people down. We've only got 15 games to go. Look, we're not going to play people that are hurt, OK? If they're hurt, we're not going to play them. We're awfully thin, though."

Bradley is in the first season of a three-year, $30 million contract. The third year can become a club option if Bradley is on the disabled list at the end of this season and not ready to play by next April 15 because of a specific injury, widely believed to be the knee.

That will be interesting to watch play out over the next few days, but Bradley would probably create a fuss if the Cubs tried to put him on the DL.

Whatever happens this year, the Cubs will more than likely try to trade Bradley this winter because they're tired of his attitude.

All that's left: The Cubs fell to 75-72 with Saturday's 2-1 loss. They're all but mathematically eliminated from the NL Central race as well as the wild card.

All that's left now is pride.

"That's the biggest thing we stress with each other," said Ryan Dempster, Saturday's starting pitcher. "We're not in the position we wish we were in. Just play for pride. You go out there, and you play to compete and go out there and do the best you can and try to finish as strong as we can."

Minor matters: The Cubs' Class AA Tennessee farm club stayed alive Friday night in its Southern League championship series against Jacksonville.

Shortstop Starlin Castro, arguably the Cubs' top prospect, singled home the game-winning run in the ninth inning for a 5-4 victory. Tennessee entered Saturday night trailing the best-of-five series two games to one with Andrew Cashner slated to pitch.

Right fielder Tyler Colvin doubled, scored and drove 1 in Friday. It's possible the Cubs could call up Colvin, their top pick in 2006, if the injury picture in the outfield doesn't get any better.