Castro's .300 rookie season is complete

HOUSTON -- Rookie shortstop Starlin Castro went 2-for-3 Saturday night, and his batting average stood at an even .300.

Cubs manager Mike Quade wanted it to stay that way, so he sat Castro on Sunday.

Quade tries to plan several days ahead with his lineups, and Saturday ended up being key for Castro.

"I said, 'You know what, this kid's going to play, and he's going to have to perform today to get to .300,'" Quade said. "He was feeling the pressure. I absolutely loved watching him, loved watching him perform. I kind of made up my mind if he does this, gets to .300, gets through this game, I don't care if we played 15 innings, he's playing. If he comes out of this at .300, I'm going to stick with my original lineup and let (Darwin) Barney play short today. He earned this thing yesterday, and I thought that was really cool."

Castro wound up with an on-base percentage of .347, a slugging percentage of .408, 3 home runs, 41 RBI and 27 errors.

"This is part of the learning process for him," Quade said. "It's a great accomplishment. He earned it. He didn't know what 'Q' was going to do today, and I wanted it that way. And you know what? If he was in the lineup, he'd go play. But my call this time."

No dealing Big Z? General manager Jim Hendry said there are no plans to trade pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who went 8-0 down the stretch. Zambrano, who has a no-trade clause in his contract, has said repeatedly he wants to stay.

"I've never assumed that he really wanted to go," Hendry said. "He earned the contract he got and I've always assumed he'd be pitching for the Cubs, and I'm glad he's obviously righted the ship and had a really good ending."

Also along those lines, third baseman Aramis Ramirez repeated he'd be back and invoke the opt-out clause in his contract.

"I'll be here next year, yeah," Ramirez said.

Market this: Plain-spoken Mike Quade was asked how he'd handle the public-relations and marketing aspects of the job if he gets it for next year.

"I'm here to tell you I'm not changing," he said. "The way you approach a full year and everything else, some of that will change, but I will not change. Whether that's good or bad for the marketing department, you'll have to talk to them.

"I despise the word 'celebrity.' I do what I do with you guys, and I actually like the banter and the back and forth. But I don't crave it, and if I wasn't in this position, I wouldn't seek it out."

Dempster doings: Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster tied his career high with his 34th start. He fell 1 strikeout shy of tying his career best (209), set in 2000 with Florida.