Piniella tries to keep pitch counts down

Lou Piniella has emerged as the local chapter's president of the Right Arm Preservation Society.

After noticing Ryan Dempster fired at least 116 pitches in three of his last four outings, Piniella yanked the Cubs starter after just 93 pitches and 5 innings of Saturday's 5-4 win over Colorado.

Dempster hadn't thrown so few pitches since his opening start April 3.

"Obviously, as a starting pitcher, when you only go 5 innings, you feel like you really didn't do your job," Dempster said.

But Piniella clearly felt like he was doing his.

"We wanted to really shorten him up today, to 85-90 pitches," he said. "We wanted to make sure we got his pitch count down. This start, in particular, and hopefully one more."

Piniella also told Kerry Wood before the game he'd have a lazy Saturday after pitching the ninth inning four of the last five days.

While that decision meant Carlos Marmol had to pitch for the third straight day in order to nail down the save in the ninth, Piniella promised to "probably" give Marmol a break today.

More resting news: Thirty days after Lou Piniella scoffed at the concept of subbing defensively for Alfonso Soriano in the late innings, the Cubs manager did just that Saturday. After Soriano was hit by a pitch in the toe and stole a base in the eighth, Piniella put Jim Edmonds in center and shifted Reed Johnson to left going into the ninth. Don't count on Piniella to make this a trend.

"We double-switched," Piniella said. "And that was the only reason he came out of the ballgame."

Indeed, Carlos Marmol would have been the second batter in the bottom of the ninth if Piniella hadn't performed his third double-switch in four innings.

Instead, Edmonds became the second potential hitter in the ninth and Marmol became the seventh.

"Not a big deal," Soriano said.

Resting, Part III: For the first time this season, first baseman Derrek Lee won't be in the Cubs' starting lineup today. Lou Piniella is giving Lee the day off, which means rookie Micah Hoffpauir gets his second start since coming to the bigs earlier this month.

Umpire thumbed: Crew chief Jerry Crawford all but ordered first-base umpire Brian O'Nora to leave Saturday's game in the second inning. O'Nora injured his left hamstring in the first inning while moving down the right-field line to track Geovany Soto's blooper. O'Nora tried to stay in the game but aggravated his injury giving a "safe" call when Soto appealed Jeff Baker's check swing on a 3-2 pitch. That's when Crawford came over and encouraged O'Nora to get off the field.

Cubs officials said O'Nora was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to undergo an MRI and won't take his scheduled turn behind the plate today.