Piniella preaches patience with young pitchers and their growing pains

Cubs manager Lou Piniella returned Tuesday from attending a family funeral.

Greeting him was a team that had lost six in a row, including games by scores of 17-2 and 18-1. Piniella was reminded, but he didn't need to be, that six of the Cubs' 12 pitchers are rookies.

He made an interesting observation about that.

"What I've seen here more than anything else is a lack of a good second pitch," he said. "It's hard to pitch up here with one pitch. You need two pitches. If you have three, then much the better. So the second pitch is the pitch that needs to improve. That's what Larry (pitching coach Rothschild) has been working with, as much as or more than anything else."

The Cubs swapped a pair of rookies Tuesday, sending Brian Schlitter to Class AAA Iowa and recalling Mitch Atkins from that club. Piniella acknowledged that there would be growing pains with the kids.

"You give them the ball, and the guys who are getting people out, will get it more prevalent than others," Piniella said. "I think it's going to try your patience at times. But at the same time, it's the future of this organization, so we're going to stick with that plan and do the best we can with it."

Hail Szczur: Outfielder Matt Szczur, the Cubs' fifth-round draft pick out of Villanova, took batting practice with the Cubs on Tuesday. He will return soon to Villanova to play football this fall as an all-purpose offensive player.

Next spring, Szczur will have a decision to make between baseball and football. It's possible he could be taken in the NFL draft. In the minor leagues this year, he was 35-for-101 (.347) in stops at Arizona, Boise and Peoria.

"This is exciting because I'm going to be able to play both," he said. "That's what I wanted to do. I love college football, but coming here and being in the minors was just an unbelievable experience. We'll see how my football season goes, and that might dictate everything."

Szczur made positive news in the spring when he donated bone marrow to a young girl with leukemia. He missed 10 baseball games at Villanova.

"It was worth it in the end, being able to help save a life," he said.

Medical updates: Lou Piniella said pitcher Carlos Silva was undergoing tests Tuesday to help determine what caused the rapid heartbeats that forced him out of Sunday's start at Colorado and into the hospital.

Silva is on the disabled list. Piniella said the Cubs will know in the next couple of days about their pitching plans for next week at San Francisco. Carlos Zambrano, who has been working out of the bullpen since his return from the restricted list, would get "consideration" to start in San Francisco, Piniella said.

Left-handed reliever John Grabow may be able to go to Arizona soon to begin rehabbing from a sprained left knee.

"Let's hope that's the case," Piniella said. "We could use the experience in the bullpen."