CHICAGO -- Lou Piniella had a good time Friday just sitting back and watching from the dugout.
"Not really all that [much] strategy involved from my point," the Cubs manager said of his team's satisfying 3-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.
Ted Lilly worked seven innings, giving way to Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood, and Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano each drove in runs.
"That's the way you draw it up," Piniella said Saturday afternoon.
Well, except for one thing.
"I guess the most surprising thing was the line shot Lilly hit up the middle to get us our first run," Piniella said. "That sort of surprised me a little bit, but it was a pleasant surprise."
While Lilly (3-4, 5.24 ERA) is trying to recapture his 2007 form on the mound, he's not a wash at the plate like he was last season, when he hit .137 with 32 strikeouts.
In just his second season in the National League, his results at the plate have been better than his form, which Piniella described as "choppy at best."
"Yeah, that was fun," Lilly told reporters Friday. "I think he threw it right into my swing."
Lilly has picked up three hits thus far, and actually leads the staff with a .273 average (3-for-11). The Cubs' reigning masher in the nine-hole, Carlos Zambrano, is first in hits with six (in 23 at-bats, for a .261 clip), including one home run. The pair each has two RBIs, just behind Jason Marquis' three.
Marquis and Ryan Dempster each have a pair of hits, giving the Cubs starters (including Rich Hill and Jon Lieber, a combined 0-for-10) a .183 average, higher than the NL average for pitchers -- .150 going into Saturday's games.
"We've got a couple guys who can swing the bat a little bit," Piniella said. "They work hard during batting practice. It gives our specialty coach, Ivan DeJesus, something to do."
Piniella has used Marquis and Zambrano as pinch-hitters in the past, and both have won Silver Slugger Awards. Out of the bullpen, Wood famously homered in Game 7 of the 2003 NLCS and Marmol is an ex-catcher.
An ESPN.com writer recently ranked Zambrano as the second-best hitting pitcher in baseball (Marquis was eighth), behind Arizona wunderkind Micah Owings.
Zambrano's 13 home runs have him tied with Ferguson Jenkins for the Cubs' all-time lead for pitchers, and he's talked of trying to hit the scoreboard on the fly. While that's just wishful thinking, Big Z has swatted batting practice balls to the bleachers in deep center.
"He's an athlete," Piniella said. "You should see him run with a soccer ball; it's fun to watch. He really enjoys hitting. The other day, I took him out after eight innings and he wasn't happy, mostly because he wasn't going to get his at-bat in the bottom of the inning."
While Zambrano can legitimately rake (he hit six homers in 2006 and had 20 hits last season), don't expect to see Piniella pinch-hitting Lilly anytime soon.
"Put it this way," Piniella said, chuckling at his own joke, "he wouldn't sell too many hitting tapes if he were the instructor. I think he's trying to do a little bit of the [Kosuke] Fukudome swing, running to first base before he hits it. ... I think Lilly better just keep pitching."
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