Bullpen struggles continue as Cubs head to New York

MESA, Ariz. - If there's one lingering concern for the Cubs as they broke camp Thursday, it has to be the bullpen.

"Truthfully, our bullpen has been struggling here in the last few ballgames, said manager Lou Piniella after his team beat the Indians 9-8 to finish the Cactus League part of the preseason with a record of 18-16-2.

In Thursday's game, Chad Gaudin had another rough outing, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs in 2 innings. Gaudin has a 10.91 ERA, and he's making it difficult for the Cubs to trade him.

Rule 5 pick David Patton suffered a blown save in the ninth and got the victory. Patton allowed 3 hits and 1 run in the ninth, but he has a spring ERA of 1.35. He committed a throwing error to hurt himself against the Indians. In Wednesday's tie with the A's, Neal Cotts, Angel Guzman and Jeff Samardzija gave up runs.

The Cubs are looking for two candidates to make the team from among Gaudin, Samardzija, Guzman and Patton.

"I don't think the bullpen situation is any more clear right now than it was three or four days ago," Piniella said. "You ever hear of a blanket finish? It's a blanket finish. I don't know. We'll see what happens over the weekend in New York."

Piniella said he was not disappointed in Patton, who has thrown the ball well all spring.

"He showed a little inexperience throwing the ball away over there at first base," Piniella said. "No, I'm not disappointed. The kid's had a good spring. Give him all the credit in the world."

Look for Patton to pitch Saturday in new Yankee Stadium.

Dempster happy: It would be easy to take something away from Ryan Dempster if the Indians were swinging at all first pitches on getaway day.

But that wasn't the case.

Dempster came away from his final spring start more than happy as he worked 4 innings.

The Cubs' No. 2 starter threw 16 of his first 20 pitches for strikes over the first two innings before working through a 27-pitch third. He finished with a 12-pitch fourth, 10 of them strikes, before calling it a day.

"You've got to be happy ending the spring like that," he said. "I gave up a couple home runs, but that's as good as I've thrown the ball all spring. It's a nice way to end up and go into the regular season."

Dempster did not make the trip to New York after the game with his teammates. Instead, he'll stay in Arizona, throw a side session Saturday and join the Cubs Sunday in Houston, where they open the season Monday.

Against the Indians, Dempster gave up 5 hits and 3 runs. Shin-soo Choo and Andy Marte homered off Dempster.

Packing them in: Thursday's crowd of 7,933 gave the Cubs a spring home attendance mark of 203,105, a HoHoKam Park and Cactus League record. The Cubs had 19 home dates.