Piniella: Critics are 'getting a little crazy'
PHOENIX -- Cubs manager Lou Piniella was in rare form Thursday, when asked about his strategy in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the National League division series.
"To bring back memories of the goat and 99 years of frustration because I removed a starting pitcher in the sixth inning, I think it's getting a little crazy," Piniella told writers, laughing most of the time.
With the game tied 1-1 after six innings, Piniella removed starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano in favor of reliever Carlos Marmol, who gave up the deciding runs in the seventh.
That brought an onslaught of criticism from print, radio and TV media members.
"When you manage a team, everybody's a manager, what can I tell you?," Piniella said. "The only thing, the people who write it have a chance to write it after the fact, not before or during.
"I don't care about ESPN or anything else. That's why they're up there doing their jobs in the studio."
Before Wednesday's opener, Piniella said he would use Zambrano for 100-110 pitches. However, he removed Zambrano after only 85 pitches and 6 innings. The reason, Piniella said, was that Zambrano will pitch Game 4, if necessary, Sunday on three days' rest.
"If I had Zambrano who was going to pitch on his regular turn, Zambrano would have been back out there," the manager said. "I have to bring him back on three days rest, OK? I have a bullpen that's pitched really, really well here all year. I think the kid we brought in (Marmol) had a 23-inning scoreless streak, OK?
"Everybody's wanted me to close with this guy. All of sudden, I bring him in to the seventh inning of a ballgame, and nobody wants him in there. Come on."
Piniella repeated what he said Wednesday, that the Cubs lost because they got 4 hits off D'backs starter Brandon Webb.
He also said the decision to remove Zambrano was not a gut reaction.
"This is no gut," he said. "This wasn't gut. This was thought out. Sometimes your best plans just don't go the way you expect, but what are you going to do? If everybody was perfect, we wouldn't have to be playing these games."
Piniella then linked Marmol to the tortured history of the Cubs, including the alleged billy goat curse and 1969.
"How many people here wanted me to close him?" he asked of Marmol. "There you go. Now I bring him in the seventh inning of a ballgame and it's like the billy goat came out of the grave, and what the (heck) is his name, Durocher ('69 manager Leo) turned over in his grave and everything else. For God's sake. I think there's a little overreaction to this."
Looking to 2008: The Cubs will open the 2008 season at home against the Milwaukee Brewers. According to the Brewers' Web site, the teams will play at Wrigley on Monday, March 31. After an off-day, the series resumes with two more at Wrigley.
This will be the first time since 2001 the Cubs will open at home.
The Brewers come right back to Wrigley for games April 29-May 1. The third Cubs-Brewers series at Wrigley will be Sept. 16-18. The two teams will meet in Milwaukee July 28-31 and will close the regular season, Sept. 26-28.
Commercial time: During Lou Piniella's soliloquy, the TV in his office aired his commercial for Aquafina water. The commercial shows Piniella arguing with an umpire and throwing a base.
"There you go," he said. "That's what I needed last night, was some water. That's what I needed, was some water, when I went into the press room. Where was that Aquafina when I needed it?"
The players watched the ad in the clubhouse and cracked up.
"That's good (stuff) right there," said Ryan Dempster. "I love it."
No workout: The Cubs won't hold a formal workout Friday at Wrigley Field because of an early morning arrival back to Chicago. Lou Piniella and Saturday's starting pitcher, Rich Hill, will meet the media.