--RHP Kerry Wood recorded his 18th save Sunday night at Los Angeles. It was Wood's eighth save in a row and his 11th save in his last 14 appearances. In those 14 outings, Wood has an 0.63 ERA, having allowed one earned run in 14 1/3 innings.
--2B Mark DeRosa batted second for the first time this year Sunday night in Los Angeles and went 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs and two RBIs. DeRosa raised his average to .303. He has four homers in his last nine games. DeRosa turned in a .371 on-base percentage last year. His OBP this year is .391. --SS Ryan Theriot figures to return to the lineup Tuesday night against Atlanta at Wrigley Field. Theriot got Sunday off after a rough day in the field Saturday, when he dropped a couple of throws attempting to nab base-stealers. Theriot will continue to work on his technique around the bag. On the bright side, he has 25 multi-hit games this year to go along with a .323 batting average and .404 OBP.
--LHP Ted Lilly, who starts Tuesday's series opener against the Braves, is 3-2 with a 5.23 ERA in six home starts. He has thrown at least six innings in eight of his last 10 starts.
--RF Kosuke Fukudome went 3-for-18 on the just-concluded West Coast road trip. His batting average has dropped from .310 entering the month to .292. Fukudome should be glad to get back to Wrigley Field, where he is batting .377 (43-for-114) with an OBP of .482, compared with a batting average of .200 (21-for-105) on the road with a .306 OBP.
--LHP Neal Cotts has not allowed a run in six appearances since being recalled from Class AAA Iowa (Des Moines) May 29. That covers five innings.
BY THE NUMBERS: 3.99 -- ERA of the Cubs' starting pitchers entering the week. Quality starts had been few and far between lately, and the bullpen had been carrying the pitching, with a 3.12 ERA through Sunday.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "These guys are competitors, and they want to do well, and they want to win. I'd rather have a guy who gets upset than a guy that does it with a smile, like he doesn't care." -- Manager Lou Piniella, after Carlos Zambrano's dugout tirade last Saturday in Los Angeles, where Zambrano took out his anger on a pair of Gatorade jugs.
