Cubs respond to Piniella's warning, beat Brewers 9-4
MILWAUKEE - One by one and or two by two almost all of the Cubs hitters marched into manager Lou Piniella's office.
The Cubs skipper had one simple message before Wednesday night's game against the Brewers: If you want to be in the lineup, you have to produce.
The message seemed to take as the Cubs exploded for 5 home runs in a 9-4 victory at Miller Park.
After watching his offense sputter for much of this season, an irritable Piniella looked as if he had seen enough.
"Look, the amazing part about this thing is we're going to play the people that deserve to play," Piniella said. "That's it. Period. In a nutshell.
"Whoever's playing the best is going to get the playing time, and that's it. I've been very patient. And look, I appreciate the effort that everybody's giving. We're just not playing baseball games. I'm going to play the people that I feel give us the best chance to win that particular day, and that's the end of it."
The Cubs went with a right-handed hitting lineup against lefty Randy Wolf, and they tagged him for 5 homers: 2 each by Marlon Byrd and Geovany Soto and 1 by Derrek Lee.
"All we're trying to do is create a little sense of urgency here," Piniella said after the game as all TVs in the clubhouse were tuned to the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup celebration. "OK? We've got keep grinding. That was the purpose (of the meetings). But these guys swung the bats tonight."
Byrd hit a 2-run homer in the first to put the Cubs ahead 2-0. Soto hit his first homer in the second to make it 3-1 Cubs. The Cubs then hit 3 home runs in the fifth, with Lee hitting a 2-run shot followed immediately by another from Byrd. Soto capped it with a 2-run homer later in the inning.
For Lee, it was career homer No. 300.
"I was aware, but I wasn't going up there trying to get 300," Lee said. "Now that I'm there it feels good. It says you have success over a period."
Soto was asked if Piniella's pregame message got through.
"Every time I play, I want to do great," he said. "It's not like I need a boost or anything. I just want to win, and I want the team to do good and play as great as I can day in and day out. That's my goal every day."
The offense and some sparking defense by Byrd in center and Starlin Castro at short made a winner of Carlos Zambrano (2-4), who got his last win on April 10 by having just enough over 5 innings.
"Hopefully, we just start some good streak, a winning streak and a hitting streak," Zambrano said. "Since the first day of the season, we know that we can hit. We just haven't been able to execute, but one thing that I know: We have good hitters."
And about that personal win drought?
"Long time ago, man," Zambrano said.
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Cubs 9, Brewers 4</p>
<p class="News"><b>Running it up:</b> Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano threw 88 pitches over 5 innings. He gave up only 2 hits, but he walked five. He threw 23 pitches, only 11 strikes, in the third inning and 23 pitches in the fourth. </p>
<p class="News"><b>Bunching them:</b> Derrek Lee, Marlon Byrd and Geovany Soto homered in the fifth. The Cubs hadn't had at least 3 homers in an inning since they hit 4 against the White Sox on June 21, 2008. </p>
<p class="News"><b>Cashner watch:</b> Rookie Andrew Cashner worked the seventh and eighth innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out two while using his fastball and changing speeds. </p>
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