Felix Pie and Angel Guzman

Felix Pie had a good first day. He had a couple chances to win the game for the home team, but couldn’t make it happen. He did get a hit (a double) and an RBI. He also saved the game in the tenth inning with a killer throw.

It was not enough to tip the game into the hands of the Cubs as they saw it slip away in fourteen innings. After watching people have great outings from the bullpen who we fretted about all winter, including Michael Wuertz, Neal Cotts and Ryan Dempster, and a couple who we have worried about since opening day, including Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry, the game was left to Wil Ohman to finish. He did finish the game in his one inning of work, but it was not what we expected.

Ohman allowed one run to keep his 2007 ERA at 9.00. It was enough for the Padres to gain a split for the short, two game series at Wrigley.

The Cubs remain three games below .500. Come September, if we are in a race, we are going to look back at this game and a couple others this past week and wish we had pulled them out.

In the meantime, we look to Atlanta for the next three days.

In order to make room for Pie, we had to jettison someone. Instead of letting Ronnie Cedeno pack his bags, the Cubs sent Angel Guzman.

This is not a huge surprise. Guzman has pitched very well out of the pen over the past two weeks. The Cubs believe he could be a dynamite starting pitcher. If he spends the next two or three weeks pitching regularly for Iowa as a starter, he may be ready to return about the time Wade Miller is ready to be released. Miller did not have a bad outing today, but Guzman is the future, and it may be ready to go.

Pie may not be leaving Chicago anytime soon, either. If he makes the most of the time Soriano spends in the trainers’ room, it may be Jacque Jones, of the three swings and your gone variety, who may be sent away. The Cubs cannot afford to have Soriano hurt. He may be safer playing in left or right, while Pie is tailor-made for Wrigley’s center field.

There may be some major decisions made in the next few weeks. Lets hope they are made while the Cubs mark some W’s on the board.