Hill feels strong despite blister
MESA, Ariz. -- Cubs lefty Rich Hill wasn't particularly sharp against Kansas City on Tuesday, but that might've been due in part to a blister on his finger and a rain-shortened outing in his previous appearance.
The blister isn't considered serious, but Hill was taken out with two on and two outs in the fifth inning. He gave up eight hits, including a home run, and four earned runs.
''He threw the ball OK,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ''I think what you're seeing is the effect of only pitching one inning the time before and losing command of the strike zone. He was a little too strong and trying to overthrow the ball.''
After rain shortened his last outing, Hill finished his scheduled work that day on a bullpen mound.
''It's not the same,'' Piniella said.
Hill said his ''weird'' spring -- which included a minor-league start and long-relief appearances to accommodate the pitchers battling for the fifth-starter job -- had nothing to do with his command. He wasn't happy with that but said, ''I feel strong,'' and that the blister isn't a big deal.
''I feel fine, and that's taken care of, so I'm ready to roll,'' he said.
His next start is a 55- to 60-pitch tune-up Sunday in a minor-league game in Arizona before he rejoins the team for the season opener in Cincinnati in anticipation of his first start April 6 in Milwaukee.
ALMOST FAMOUS: The Cubs released minor-league reliever Matt Harrington, who became a victim of the annual roster numbers game. If the name sounds familiar, that's because Harrington was considered by some to be the nation's top pitching prospect in 2000, when the Colorado Rockies drafted him seventh overall.
He turned down a $3.75 million bonus offer and held out in a messy process that involved a lawsuit against his agent. He was drafted each of the next four years but never signed with those teams for various reasons.
The Cubs became the first major-league organization to sign Harrington when they gave him a minor-league deal in October on the recommendation of Dan Smith, the former pitching coach of Harrington's independent team in Fort Worth, Texas, and a friend of Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and player development director Oneri Fleita.
SHORT HOPS: Hendry spoke briefly with the agent for pitcher Carlos Zambrano on Tuesday and discussed plans to talk this week about working out a multiyear contract extension before Zambrano's Opening Day deadline, according to a source close to the talks. The sides are thought to be working within the framework of a five-year deal (including his $12.4 million contract this year) between $75 million and $85 million.
• • Indianapolis Colts coach• Tony Dungy watched the game Tuesday as a guest of Hendry, who sat next to Dungy near the Cubs' dugout.
• • For the second consecutive home game, the Cubs got an agreement from their opponent to use the designated hitter so Cliff Floyd could get some at-bats.