Piniella: No highlight watching after loss

5/2/2008 7:29 PM

By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) -Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella was in no mood to dial up the Thursday night sports highlights.

Piniella didn't want to see replays of his terse response to a questioner wondering if he considered removing left fielder Alfonso Soriano for a defensive replacement in the ninth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers' comeback 3-2 victory.

Soriano, playing his first game back off the 15-day disabled list, didn't break quickly on a hit earlier in the three-run rally.

Reed Johnson, who started that game in center, had been replaced by Felix Pie in the eighth. Piniella was asked if he considered moving Johnson to left, and responded, ``You're damn right I thought about it. You think I'm stupid or something? God darnit.''

Piniella, who accused the questioner of ``creating the news,'' said he'll never take Soriano out for defensive purposes.

``He knows it, you know it and unless it's a double switch that's the only way he's going to come out of a ballgame,'' Piniella said. ``You don't take superstar players out of the lineup - you don't do it.''

Piniella said the question agitated him because the Cubs had just lost a tough one, and because the answer was obvious.

``I probably should have responded a little different, but I was a little hot under the collar,'' Piniella said Friday before the Cubs and Cardinals, the NL's top two teams, began a three-game series. ``If you can't get hot under the collar as a major league manager losing a two-run lead against a division rival that you're competing with for a championship, well, then you shouldn't be managing.''

Piniella was unwavering in his support of Kerry Wood, victimized in the Brewers' rally for his third blown save in seven chances along with a 5.14 ERA.

``I never mentioned a word to the contrary,'' Piniella said. ``I've got confidence in Kerry. Look, these things are going to happen. But Kerry's our closer. That's the end of the story.''

The Cubs optioned right-hander Kevin Hart to Triple-A Iowa, where he'll start, and purchased the contract of right-hander Chad Fox from Iowa. Fox, 37, hasn't pitched in the major leagues since April 2005 when he landed on the disabled list with the Cubs with an elbow injury.

Fox was chosen despite allowing four runs in his latest appearance. Piniella said assistant general manager Randy Bush watched Fox throw and said he was hurt by poor defense.

``A couple of plays weren't made behind him and those sort of things,'' Piniella said. ``But they said he threw the ball really, really well, so here he is.''

Hart was 2-1 with a 5.06 ERA in 10 games.