Piniella wonders why loss such big news

Man, does Cubs manager Lou Piniella hate losing.

Fortunately for him, the Cubs have won a lot more than they've lost this season.

Even as Piniella tried to explain there was no shame in losing 5-3 to a very good Philadelphia Phillies team Sunday at Wrigley Field, he got into a testy exchange with a couple of radio reporters.

Piniella lost it a bit when asked if it was a particularly frustrating defeat.

"Why is frustrating?" Piniella said. "Why should it be? Are we supposed to win every day? I don't think so. We went out and played hard and got beat."

The Cubs, whose lead in the NL Central has shrunk to 4 games over Milwaukee, left 10 men on base after stranding nine Saturday. Piniella was in no mood to be asked if it was a tendency that was beginning to concern him.

"Listen, if we could get guys in every time we got men on base we'd be 162-0, and that's not going to happen," Piniella said.

A riled Piniella then was asked if he was OK with the effort in the loss.

"What the (heck) an I supposed to be, not OK?" Piniella said, his voice rising.

"We're not supposed to win every day; it's not that easy, fellas," Piniella said later. "I think we've spoiled people and we've gotten people used to it, but every day things don't go your way in this business."

It was a stressful day that started badly for the Cubs and Piniella with Carlos Zambrano having to be scratched from his scheduled start because of a tired arm.

Sean Marshall started instead and recovered from a 3-run first inning, but the Cubs never got closer than 1.

Marshall (3-4) worked into the sixth inning, giving up 5 runs on 9 hits.

"I felt like I went out there and gave it 100 percent," Marshall said. "It's kind of a shame that I left a couple balls down the middle and they got a couple hits to score those runs in the first inning."

Jayson Werth's 2-run double came after Marshall walked Chase Utley and gave up singles to Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino. Werth also homered off Marshall in the fifth.

"He was OK," Piniella said of Marshall. "He gave up 3 runs in the first inning and pitched from behind the score. He gave us 5-plus innings, which we needed, but I've seen him better."

Phillies starter Jamie Moyer, the oldest player in the majors at 45, was his usual crafty self, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings to run his record to 12-7.

"He knows how to pitch and doesn't beat himself," Piniella said.

For the second day in a row the Cubs got 11 hits in a loss, and for the second straight day they were all singles. Alfonso Soriano went 1-for-5 but couldn't come through in several clutch spots and left six runners on base.

"We were able to get some runners on today, but we couldn't get any across and get a good rally going," said Derrek Lee, who was 0-for-4. "He (Moyer) got the better of us today."

It's only the third time the Cubs have lost two games in a row at home, but they still closed the month of August at 20-8.

"I thought we played pretty well in August," Piniella said. "How many games did we win, 20 games? Not bad."