Pujols gets the hat trick as Cards pound Cubs, 9-1

Cubs manager Lou Piniella spent portions of his Sunday laying out short-term plans he hopes will bear fruit in the long term.

Piniella sent lefty starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny to the bullpen, a decision the Evergreen Park native accepted as eagerly as a sick kid accepts cough medicine. Even the cherry kind.

Mercurial pitcher Carlos Zambrano will return from his exile on Bullpen Island to take the mound as a starter Wednesday in Pittsburgh. And the organization's latest savior-in-waiting, 2008 top draft pick Andrew Cashner, will join the ballclub as a reliever during the Pittsburgh series.

As his players were packing their gear for a nine-game road swing against Central Division rivals Pittsburgh, Houston and Milwaukee in the wake of a 9-1 loss to St. Louis, the veteran manager mentioned one more short-term plan.

"We need to pile up some wins and come back here at .500 or above," said Piniella, whose Cubs slipped to 24-27. "That's what we're hoping for. We'll have to swing the bats more consistently. We'll probably make a few lineup changes, too, get a few different people in there and let them play."

Piniella declined to elaborate when pressed as to what those lineup changes might look like or if they would be short term or long term, but it's unlikely any substitutes would have enjoyed more productive afternoons than Sunday's lineup against the Cardinals' thumb-in-your-eye combination of pitcher Adam Wainwright and slugger Albert Pujols.

Pujols entered the game with only 2 home runs in May, a total he equaled by the fifth inning and surpassed with a ninth-inning shot to the basket in center field. It was Pujols' first 3-home run performance since Sept. 3, 2006, and the fourth of his career.

Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster (3-5) surrendered 2 Pujols home runs that landed on Waveland Avenue and later blamed himself.

"As a starting pitcher, if you execute the pitches and put them where you need to put them, you're going to have success more often than not," Dempster said. "I didn't execute pitches when I needed to. I gave up 6 runs with two outs and they scored all 9 of their runs with two outs. That's just a lack of execution."

Wainwright improved to 7-3 this season by holding the Cubs to 1 earned run on 7 hits in 7 innings with 8 strikeouts.

"Wainwright and Pujols. It was their day today," said Derrek Lee, who went 0-for-4 and saw his batting average dip to .237. "Wainwright shut us down and Pujols carried them."

The loss dropped the Cubs to 3-3 on the homestand.

"We were hoping for 4-2, to win two series," Piniella said. "We didn't do it."