Colvin plays; Sori sits

As promised, Lou gets Colvin into the lineup, and it's at Soriano's expense.

"I'm just rotating my outfield like I said I was," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less. Let's not read anything to get too excited. I said I was going to give everybody a day off a week, and we're just going through that."

It’s also Jackie Robinson Day today, as Major League Baseball honors the memory of someone I feel was the most compelling sports figure of the 20th Century. Cubs lineup:

42 Theriot, SS
42 Fukudome, RF
42 Lee, 1B
42 Ramirez, 3B
42 Colvin, LF
42 Byrd, CF
42 Fontenot, 2B
42 Soto, C
42 Zambrano, P

Ted Lilly threw 51 pitches last night over 4 innings of 1-hit, 1-run ball for Class AAA Iowa. Ted walked one and struck out four, and he'll likely get 1 more rehab start even though he seems to feel he's ready.

"I'd like my next start to be there (with the Cubs)," Ted told Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register. "I feel like I'm ready to do that, but we'll have to see what happens. I imagine we'll talk when I get back to Chicago."

Speaking of the minor leagues, Andrew Cashner worked 6 innings, striking out 10 and walking nobody in Tennessee's 15-2 win over Chattanooga. Cashner (1-0) retired 16 in a row after the first batter of the game reached on an error. He took a no-hitter into the seventh.

Lou was asked by an Internet columnist if the Cubs are teaching Soriano the subtleties of the game and whether Sori is “resistant” to learning. Lou handled it well.

"Sori's working very hard,” Lou said “He works every day with Mike Quade. Mike Quade is an excellent outfield instructor. He works with him every day. He'll get better. He's working hard, like I said, and that's all you can expect from a player.

"I've got to feel that way as a manager. Look, he wants to do better. That's No. 1. He's working at it. That's No. 2. And I've got confidence that he will. And I'm the one that makes out the lineup."

Tyler Colvin drew small group of reporters this morning. He was asked about the big walk he drew yesterday. Colvin has 3 walks in April after having drawn none in spring training.

“I can do it,” he said.

Don’t know if you had a chance to see the pitches Marmol was throwing in the ninth yesterday, but they were wicked, prompting this from Lou this morning:

“You can see how well he threw the ball yesterday. In fact, to be truthful, that's the best I've ever seen him throw. And why? He's nice and rested. He doesn't have to overthrow.”

Lou said he’d resist using Marmol for 2 innings at a time but that an inning and a third would be OK on occasion. He also had a nice little Yogi-ism when talking about the rest of the pen.

“Look, we've got to solve our eighth-inning solution,” he said. “That's it.”

That, indeed, is it.

The wind is howling out today. Pitchers would be well advised to keep the ball down.

D-Lee has 5 homers off Brewers starter Jeff Suppan and is hitting .433 against him. Prince Fielder is 12-for-33 with 2 homers off Big Z. Jim Edmonds is in Milwaukee's lineup. He and Z have a little history dating to Jimmy Ballgame's St. Louis days.