Quade sets right tone in win

MILWAUKEE — Cubs manager Mike Quade wasn't going to go all Thomas Paine on us and declare these are the times that try men's souls.

But the importance of this nine-game road trip that began Friday night at Miller Park wasn't lost on Quade.

“Every day's another day,” Quade said before his club came from behind and then held on to beat the Brewers 7-4. The Cubs improved to 4-3. “We'll see where we're at right now, that's for sure. That's why we play them. I like what I think we're made of.”

Here's the deal: The Cubs will be without their Nos. 4 and 5 starting pitchers, Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner, for the next few weeks.

They'll call up Casey Coleman from Class AAA Iowa to start Sunday's finale against the Brewers and then try to get 45-50 pitches from lefty James Russell Tuesday in Houston.

But make no mistake, the Cubs will lean heavily on their Big Three of Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Garza.

That said, those veterans will have to be careful not to try to do too much.

“I hope not because of who the three are,” Quade said. “They've been down this before. Every rotation in the history of baseball has darn near has gotten into some trouble at this point. I also think that in spite of the fact that we lost two starters, they know who's behind them as well, bullpen wise. It's got to be pretty comforting to be a starter here knowing what kind of bullpen we have.

“But the minute you're trying to do too much in this game, you're done.”

It was Zambrano's turn Friday, and he went deep, but not necessarily in the way the Cubs had hoped.

Working long counts all night, Zambrano ran his pitch count up to 104 after 5 innings. After an economical first inning, Zambrano threw 25 pitches in the second, 17 in the third, 20 in the fourth and 29 in the fifth before giving himself and the Cubs a big break with an 8-pitch sixth.

Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood and Carlos Marmol (third save) did their part with scoreless relief.

“Tough lineup,” said Zambrano, who is 1-0 with a 5.25 ERA as he extended his winning streak to nine dating to last year. “Today was one of those games where they fouled too much, especially Carlos Gomez and Nyjer Morgan and (Rickie) Weeks. For some reason, they foul a lot of pitches and good pitches, too.”

Zambrano could thank his teammates for giving him 5 runs in the fourth to erase a 2-0 deficit against lefty Randy Wolf. Geovany Soto hit a 2- run homer, and Jeff Baker continued to eat up left-handed pitchers with a 3-run blast. Baker wound up 4-for-5 with 4 RBI.

“It was big for us to come out and set a tone, try and get a win,” Baker said. “Z had a heck of a game for, went 6 innings for us and turned it over to the bullpen. It was good to set the tone, and hopefully we can get this ball rolling and make a good road trip for us. It's going to be a tough one for us.”