Piniella sees no reason Marmol shouldn't close

While Lou Piniella continues to close out his managerial career, Carlos Marmol will continue to close.

The Cubs' retiring manager sees no reason why Marmol should not continue in that role going into next season, despite the right-hander's on-and-off control problems.

Marmol blew his fifth save in 26 chances Friday, as he walked three Atlanta Braves in the ninth before allowing a 3-run triple with two outs to Rick Ankiel in a 5-3 loss.

Marmol rebounded Saturday by pitching a scoreless ninth to notch his 22nd save and preserve a 5-4 win. He struck out two, after walking new Brave Derrek Lee on 4 pitches to start the inning.

"That's going to be a decision for somebody else, obviously," Piniella said of whether Marmol should remain the closer going into 2011 or go back to his previous role as setup man.

"Look, anybody can have a bad day. Nobody's immune. He's gotten in those situations in the past and he's worked himself out of them. (Friday) unfortunately, he didn't.

"He's done pretty well here in the four years I've been here, and he's handled the closer's role well this year."

Marmol did strike out the side in the ninth Friday. His 105 strikeouts (most among big-league relievers) have come in just 572/3 innings. He also has walked 44 batters and hit five others.

"Marmol's very reliable," Piniella said. "(Friday), he couldn't quite get out of it. You can't put men on base like that consistently and get away with it all the time. He's got exceptional stuff. He gets more strikeouts than any other (reliever) in baseball. But, hey, nobody's perfect in that regard (closing).

"We looked at the film after the ballgame, and a few of those pitches looked pretty good," Piniella added.

"What happens, invariably, is when an umpire sees that a pitcher is struggling with command, whether it's our guy or somebody else's guy, the strike zone has a tendency to shrink a little bit, whereas if you're throwing strikes, (the umpire) will expand it for you just a little bit.

"But, look, Marmol's done a really nice job here."

Bye-bye, Bobby: Atlanta manager Bobby Cox bids farewell to Wrigley Field on Sunday, as the Cubs and Braves conclude their three-game series. Cox announced late last season that this would be his final year as manager after 29 big-league seasons, 25 with the Braves.

Cox's 2,485 wins, including 72 this season, rank fourth all time. Lou Piniella was an outfielder with the Yankees when Cox served as the team's first-base coach in 1977.

"You could tell that he was going to get an opportunity to manage at the big-league level," said Piniella, who calls Cox a good friend. "He's a good baseball guy - solid. He's had just a great, great career."

Piniella reiterated that he, too, will be retiring at the end of the season. He is not having second thoughts. He turns 67 at the end of this month and is two years younger than Cox.

"I need to be home," said Piniella, who recently spent some time away from the club to tend to his ailing mother. "My circumstances have changed a heck of a lot this year and especially in the past month or so. I just need to be home. I'm concerned about my mom.

"Look, I love baseball. But I love my family. When you talk about your family, it's a lot more important than baseball."