Byrd's catch comes from out of nowhere

If there was one bright spot for the Cubs in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the Nationals, it was Marlon Byrd's highlight-reel catch in the fifth inning.

Nationals pitcher Luis Atilano lifted a high flyball to center. Byrd fought a bright sun, turned his back and somehow made the catch with his face toward the center-field wall and his glove behind him.

"It was all luck," he said. "It was one of those, see it at the last minute, sun's in your eyes, try to get to a position, stick your glove out."

Byrd looked like he saw it, lost it and then somehow saw it again.

"Early and late, both," he said of when he picked up the ball.

Asked if it was one of his best catches, he said: "No, not at all. I've made some diving catches, some bigger catches. Get a 'W,' it'd be a lot better."

Byrd's teammates were duly impressed.

"That was pretty awesome," pitcher Ryan Dempster said. "When you don't give up on a ball, he didn't give up all the way to the last minute. He saw it at the very last second and threw his glove out there and made an unbelievable catch.

"Those are the fun things during the game that happen. Guys are giving their all. He plays as hard as anybody I've ever played with. He's a huge delight and a huge pleasure to have on the team."

Strategy time: The Cubs chose to pitch to eighth-place hitter Wil Nieves with two outs in the second inning and a man on second instead of intentionally walking him. Nieves singled home a run on a 3-2 pitch.

"It's early in the game there, and you just got to make a better pitch," Ryan Dempster said. "I didn't execute the pitch. I was trying to keep it down and away and off the plate, and it ran back over the plate."

X-out again: Manager Lou Piniella talked earlier this week of getting outfielder Xavier Nady a start, particularly against a right-handed pitcher. Nady, who bats right-handed, did not start in this series.

He walked as a pinch hitter Wednesday and is batting .200. He's coming off Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last July.

"I think we're pretty close to where we thought he'd be," Piniella said. "We had a timetable around the first of June, and we're still here a month away from there.

"We're still in a process with him where he can play a couple days a week. I'll get him a start here very soon, yes."

Managing to manage: It has been a challenge for Lou Piniella to manage a team with a young bullpen and a stable of five outfielders who need to play.

"I've got five outfielders that I'm trying to rotate and give at-bats to," he said. "Not very easy. At the same time, in the bullpen, I've got young kids that I've got to be able to bring along rather slowly, build their confidence, pitch them in right situations, and that's one of the big reasons, too, for a guy like (Carlos) Zambrano (to be in the pen). It allows me to do that. Before I couldn't do it.

"And if you want to put together a good bullpen here this summer that wins you a division, that's exactly what we're going to have to do. Put the brakes on some of these young kids and pitch them, at the right time, give them the necessary experience and let them build some confidence."