Marmol collapses, Cubs swept by Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Before Thursday night's game at Tropicana Field, Lou Piniella admitted his homecoming was a lot more strenuous than he ever could have imagined.

"I need a three-day vacation from Tampa-St. Petersburg," the Cubs manager said. "Ozzie can handle the whole show."

After watching the Cubs blow a late-inning lead in an 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay, Piniella indeed may be ready to flee to Maui and let White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen handle "the show" for the next two weekends of Cubs-Sox series.

The Cubs have lost nine straight games in Florida since July 2005 and will be running on fumes Friday afternoon after being swept for the first time this year in an emotionally charged series against Piniella's former club.

Afterward, a vintage session of "Piniella Unplugged" revealed his frustration with the media.

"This whole road trip we have had trouble scoring runs," he said. "And I don't want to hear any more when I get back to Chicago, and when we get [ Alfonso] Soriano back, about [the leadoff spot] or anything else. I mean, I really don't know. I'm not going to put up with it anymore. I think we know what we're doing here.

"It just has been a struggle. We have to piece it together and keep our heads up and keep going. We haven't been in a bad spell all year. Well, we're in one right now, and hopefully at home it'll cure it and we'll go forward."

Piniella wasn't disappointed in new leadoff man Kosuke Fukudome, who drove in the go-ahead run in a three-run seventh as the Cubs grabbed a 3-1 lead. But then he watched two of his more effective relievers, Carlos Marmol and Scott Eyre, cough up the lead in spectacular fashion in the Rays' seven-run seventh inning. The loss left the Cubs with a 2-4 record on their artificial turf trip to Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Marmol, who tipped over in his recliner in the Cubs' clubhouse before the first game, tipped over on the mound in the finale. He walked the first two men he faced before hitting the next two, forcing in a run before being yanked mercifully.

"Carlos is human," Eyre said. "He's not going to be the 'Amazing Carlos' every time."

Eyre, who set a club record last week with his 33rd straight scoreless outing, was even worse, serving up a grand slam to Carl Crawford on his second pitch. He allowed four extra-base hits and a sacrifice fly to the five batters he faced.

"Horrible inning, wasn't it?" Piniella said.

Eyre admitted he "choked it back up" after the Cubs took the seventh-inning lead, wasting a fine performance by Sean Gallagher, who allowed one unearned run in six innings.

Piniella made a cryptic comment in his postgame news conference, saying: "We go home and try to regroup. That's all we can do. But I found some things out in this series I think will pay some dividends down the road, and we'll leave it at that."

What did Piniella find out that he didn't know before the Cubs were swept in Tropicana Field? And what will it mean for the future of his team?

No one knows for sure.

But stay tuned this weekend for more clues when the Cubs and Sox go head-to-head for the first time with both teams in first place.

"We want to win the series; they want to win the series," Derrek Lee said. "Other than that, it's business at usual."

psullivan@tribune.com

Related topic galleries: Carlos Marmol, Kosuke Fukudome, Major League Baseball, Ozzie Guillen, Chicago White Sox, Lou Piniella, Sean Gallagher

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