Cubs get set up for letdown

Six-run seventh doesn't mean a thing when relievers give it all right back to the Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- The Cubs could be on the verge of a bullpen shakeup, though manager Lou Piniella wasn't ready to sort that out in the immediate aftermath of the latest meltdown by his best-paid veteran setup relievers.

If anything, he still was surveying the damage Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park after the Cubs scored six in the top of the seventh to take the lead -- only to surrender six in the bottom half of the inning and lose to the Phillies 11-7 in a game that also included a 1-hour, 4-minute rain delay in the same inning.

''How about that for a ballgame?'' an exasperated-looking Piniella said afterward.

Philadelphia scored all six runs in the seventh after left-hander Will Ohman retired the first two batters of the inning.

''That's tough to do,'' Piniella said. ''After you put a six-spot on the board, especially in an away game, and you get the momentum, and before you know it, you don't even get jabbed at. You get hit with a haymaker.''

It's not the first time the Cubs' bullpen has given up a lead late. But no breakdown has been this epic this season. None has created this kind of emotional whiplash from one half-inning to the next.

This time, it was Ohman surrendering back-to-back, two-out hits, and then $4 million setup man Bob Howry (0-3) giving up a walk, single, triple and home run.

''I don't know if it was bizarre; it was a bad job out of the bullpen,'' said Howry, who was charged with his third blown save this season. ''Most times, I have a 'maybe-I-did-this, maybe-I-did-that.' But I just don't have any answers for you.''

Or for the Phillies. And Howry's late-inning counterpart, $3.5 million left-hander Scott Eyre, didn't, either -- taking over a 3-1 game with a runner at second and one out in the sixth before surrendering a run-scoring triple to Abraham Nunez and an RBI squeeze bunt to Carlos Ruiz on his first two pitches.

''The people that we were counting on here out of the pen when the season started were the people that pitched in today's ballgame,'' Piniella said when asked about shaking up roles in the bullpen. ''That's who our short people were around our closer. That's exactly who got the ball.''

Though he wouldn't go as far as to say he plans to change any roles in the bullpen, he might feel pressed to rethink that, at least in the short term, when he starts breaking down season numbers that include five blown leads and a 6.10 combined ERA for Eyre and Howry. They've both given up more hits than innings pitched, and when their too-high walk totals are included, it adds up to 50 baserunners in 31 combined innings.

''I don't have an explanation,'' Piniella said of Saturday's startling turnaround. ''I wish I did.''

But he does have options. Right-hander Michael Wuertz has been the most reliable pitcher out of the bullpen with a 1.62 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings, and he hasn't allowed any of 11 inherited runners to score while retiring 14 of 18 first batters faced.

Meanwhile, Piniella seemed more stunned than steamed at Saturday's outcome -- though he said he has been in the game long enough to keep things in perspective.

''This is small potatoes,'' he said when asked if this game made him feel he's seen it all. ''You'll see more than this. Please. I hate to say it that way, but you stay around this business long enough, you see things that you don't think could happen.''

After all, it's only May.