Pitching a concern for Cubs

You know it's a bad day when a relief pitcher throws 89 pitches.

Or when your starting pitcher throws 51 in one inning.

That's how it went for the Cubs on Friday in a malodorous 12-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field.

There wasn't a whole lot of good to be found for the Cubs, who find themselves scrambling for both starting pitching and relief pitching.

Casey Coleman, who generally has been creditable as a starter since coming up last year, could not get out of the third, when the Dodgers scored 6 runs. He ran his pitch count to 90.

Jeff Stevens came in and tossed 89 pitches, walking 6 in 3 innings but earning praise from manager Mike Quade for at least eating innings and saving the pen.

In the end, the Cubs found themselves a game below .500 again at 9-10.

“Oh, man,” Quade said. “One of those things. I don't think I've seen Casey like that since he got here last year. He just looked completely out of sync from the get-go. I really don't have a clue why. He was missing down, and when you sit there and watch, that's kind of what we want. But obviously not that often.”

Coleman will get a mulligan, said Quade, who will talk to the Cubs brass about possibly bringing up a pitcher from the minor leagues to start next Tuesday. That could be from among Jay Jackson, Thomas Diamond, Ramon Ortiz or Austin Bibens-Dirkx.

The Cubs also may have to look to bullpen help from Iowa, where Scott Maine and John Gaub have done well.

“I don't know; we're going to talk about that,” Quade said. “Jeff (Stevens) is going to be down for 2-3 days or whatever. We've got to be very careful tomorrow.”

Coleman (1-1, 7.42 ERA) said he may have to develop a four-seam fastball to go along with his two-seamer to get some consistency of movement. In his 2 innings, he gave up 6 hits while walking four.

“You've got to move on,” he said. “You've got to look at the video; I've already looked at it a little bit. There were some positives. I made some good pitches, like to Matt Kemp, (2 strikeouts) in big situations. There are going to be times where you're inconsistent, and that was definitely today.”

After Friday, it's hard to believe the Cubs shared first place in the NL Central for a day this week. Before the game, Quade talked of staying there.

“I'd love for us to separate ourselves from them in the right direction,” he said. “I believe that this is what the division is. Somebody's going to take the bull by the horns and play better than we have. I don't think .500's going to win this division. I look at our games against Milwaukee, against Houston. We'll see Cincy and St. Louis. It just seems like it could go any way. I guess time will tell.”