Scales doesn't stay away too long

Bobby Scales didn't get too far away. Now, he's back with the Cubs.

One day after being optioned to Class AAA Iowa, Scales was recalled because the Cubs had to put infielder Ryan Freel on the disabled list due to a strained left hamstring.

"I was ill," Scales said. "The team doctor wanted to run some tests on me. He didn't want me to travel out of the city before he got the test results back. The test results didn't come back until last night."

Scales said he's better and that he doesn't have anything worse than a bad cold.

As for Freel, he hurt the hamstring running the bases Wednesday. He'll head to Arizona over the weekend to work out. He added he won't need more than the 15 days of DL time to recover.

"I cried like a little baby yesterday," Freel said. "Call me a sissy... all you want, but I was devastated."

Lilly fined: Pitcher Ted Lilly was not suspended, but he was fined $1,500 by MLB for coming onto the field to argue with umpire Bob Davidson earlier this week.

Lilly said he didn't believe the Cubs were going too far with the extracurricular stuff, with suspensions of Milton Bradley and Carlos Zambrano.

"It would be something that I would rather not be a focal point of our club, certainly the situations that have occurred," he said.

Not yet for Fox: Jake Fox took grounders at third base again, but manager Lou Piniella wasn't ready to start Fox, who doubled Wednesday.

"Alan told me not to get too excited just yet," Piniella said of infield coach Alan Trammell. "He says he's going to work with him. To Fox's credit, he told Alan, 'It might not be pretty, but I'll get the job done.' That's a pretty good rebuttal. He's going to work with him for a few more days, and we'll see."

Harden throws: Pitcher Rich Harden (back) played catch Thursday, but he probably won't be able to pitch next week in Atlanta, when he can come off the DL.