Manager Lou Piniella says his bullpen is in good shape, but that he can't afford to overuse short relievers Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood.
Piniella kept the three out of Thursday's series finale at Colorado and said all were available Friday at Washington. To help lighten the load on those key relievers, Piniella wants right-handers Kevin Hart and Michael Wuertz to step things up a bit. Hart took the loss Thursday, giving up two runs (one earned) in the eighth inning, when the Rockies broke a 2-2 tie. Wuertz gave up runs in each of his previous two outings heading into Friday.
Wuertz, normally, one of the Cubs' most dependable relievers, has seen his slider flatten out. As a result, it's "spinning" more to the plate rather than breaking sharply.
During the past couple years, Wuertz has experienced that problem in spring training, and pitching coach Larry Rothschild is working with Wuertz now and believes he has the problem ironed out.
NATIONALS 5, CUBS 3: Reliever Bob Howry gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to backup catcher Wil Nieves Friday. It was Nieves' first big-league homer. The Cubs wasted several chances on offense, leaving 10 runners stranded. Ryan Dempster gave up a two-run homer to Nick Johnson in the first but recovered to go seven decent innings, giving up four hits and three runs, two earned.
