Piniella says bullpen will get sorted out

ATLANTA - It's tough to detect any trends after just one game of a season, but Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he and the staff will keep a close eye on the young bullpen.

In Monday's 16-5 loss to the Braves, rookie left James Russell looked good in 2 scoreless innings after "young" veteran Sean Marshall struck out five in 22/3.

Jeff Samardzija and Justin Berg had rough goes of it, with each walking three.

The Cubs probably won't make any changes to the pitching staff until lefty Ted Lilly comes off the disabled list later this month.

However, Jeff Gray, who missed most of spring training with a groin injury, is at Class AAA Iowa, and he has thrown well of late. Any reliever who doesn't perform well is subject to going to the minor leagues when Gray is ready.

"We're going to have to sort some things out here, period," Piniella said before Wednesday's game. "I said that coming out of spring training. One of them is the youth that we have in our bullpen. Obviously, they pitched well enough in spring training to be here.

"But now, they've got to pitch well enough to help us win baseball games. We can't go on one game. So hopefully they learned from that experience, too.

"We're just going to have to deal with what we've got. We're going to have to sort it out and put everybody in their respective roles and go with it. These guys will get better. They wouldn't be here if they were walking three or four hitters a game."

The lineup card: The Cubs went with the same lineup as they did Opening Day. Lou Piniella said he will begin starting some other players, either in Thursday night's finale or over the weekend in Cincinnati.

That no doubt includes rookie outfielder Tyler Colvin and perhaps infielder Jeff Baker. Colvin made the club out of spring training with a hot bat.

"I've got to play him," Piniella said. "He can't just sit. If we're not going to play him, he'd be down in the minor leagues playing every day. We'll get him some playing time here, and we'll see how he does.

"He got an at-bat the first game. He played awfully well this spring. He deserves to be here. We're going to give him opportunities."

This and that: Randy Wells pitches the finale against Tommy Hanson. Wells was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 2 starts against the Braves last year. - Jeff Baker and Tyler Colvin, who both played college ball at Clemson, drove to Athens, Ga., on Tuesday's off-day to watch their old team play Georgia.