Scales, Miles, Johnson light up Padres

Remember all that fuss last week when Cubs manager Lou Piniella trotted out a lineup full of bench players and the Cubs lost?

The backups were back out there Thursday, and they played the leading men perfectly in an 11-3 rout of the San Diego Padres, completing a three-game sweep and running the Cubs' record to 20-14.

OK, so the Cubs were facing castoff former teammate Chad Gaudin and not Cy Young winner Tom Lincecum, who beat the Cubs' irregulars and got Piniella skewered in some segments of the public.

But Thursday's matinee idols flashed a little pride.

"We don't consider ourselves the B Team, but we take pride in going out there getting a win, as well," said outfielder Reed Johnson, who went 2-for-5 with a 2-run double and 2 runs scored.

Aaron Miles had 2 hits, but the eye-opening performance once again came from 31-year-old rookie infielder Bobby Scales, who had a pair of 2-run doubles and a walk.

"Scalsie, swinging the bat," Piniella noted. "He wants some playing time."

Can Piniella find it for him?

"I don't see why not," the manager responded. "I've said many times that players in large part make out the lineup for the manager."

Scales, Miles, Johnson and Micah Hoffpauir were in the lineup, and all had a hand in chasing Gaudin and ensuring the Cubs' fourth straight win.

The Cubs broke open a 1-1 game in the fifth with 6 runs, as they sent 11 men to the plate. Johnson and Scales hit back-to-back 2-run doubles. The next inning, the Cubs scored 4, with Scales again hitting a 2-run double, and Miles and pitcher Ryan Dempster each adding RBI doubles.

Scales came to the big leagues May 4 after more than a decade in the minors. All he's doing now is making the most of his chance.

"That's what I'm trying to do, nothing more, nothing less than that," said Scales, who is 8-for-18 (.444) with a homer, 2 doubles, a triple and 5 RBI. "I was given a great opportunity by this organization. I'm just trying to remember that this is baseball. There's four pads (bases) out there. You're 60 feet, 6 inches away from the pitcher. I just play the game."

Scales and the rest of the cast made life easy for Dempster, who improved to 3-2 by working 7 innings of 3-hit, 2-run ball in perhaps his best start of the season.

"It's getting better," Dempster said. "The last few times out, I've been feeling better about throwing the ball."

As for playing bench players, Piniella was taken aback on the recent road trip by the flak he took for sitting many of his regulars against Lincecum and the Giants. He addressed it again Thursday.

"They have to play," Piniella said. "First of all, this is a tough schedule here in Chicago with the night and day games. At the same time, if you expect your bench to be able to do something for you, they've got to get at-bats. They can't just sit there day after day after day, and then all of a sudden somebody gets hurt and you need somebody to give you a good at-bat at clutch time, the guy hasn't been up there in nine or 10 days.

"You've got to play your team. I can understand when people come from out of town, they want to see their favorite player and everything else. It's called a team. This is not like golf or tennis, where it's an individual sport. It's a team sport. And the more you utilize your team, the better everybody's involved, the better everybody feels about themselves. If you can get them to contribute, it pays big dividends down the road."

Bruce Miles' game tracker

Still Job 1: Ryan Dempster turned in the Cubs' 20th quality start of the season as he pitched 7 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. The Cubs are 13-7 when they get a quality start, and the starters' ERA in those games is 2.70. The Cubs have won their last seven when getting a quality start and nine of 10.

Thursday's grade: A. Yes, you're supposed to beat teams like the Padres, and the Cubs put the hammer down.

Measuring The Riot: For students of sabermetrics, Ryan Theriot has a slugging percentage of .484 to go along with a batting average of .297. Subtracting the BA from the SLG, you get .187, which is Theriot's "isolated power," a measure of extra-base hit ability. Last year, his ISO was .052.

Double their pleasure: Cubs batters hit 6 doubles, 2 by Bobby Scales and 1 each by Ryan Theriot, Reed Johnson, Aaron Miles and Ryan Dempster.

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