Rich Hill pitched tonight for the Iowa Cubs, allowing two runs in five innings. The more important news: five strikeouts and only one walk. Hope to see you soon, Rich. (Presuming I'm doing the math right, the earliest Hill can be called up is the nineteenth.)

Lou Piniella, on the other hand, is more concerned about his defense:

"You know what, we might have to make some changes," the manager said before Tuesday night's 3-0 victory over Cincinnati. "I hope not. I really hope we can stay just the way we are, that we're going through a little bit of a rough spell and we can work our way through it.

"But I've given some thought about doing some things. There's no rush, but there's some food for thought."

What concerns Piniella the most is the Cubs' fielding. They committed two big errors Monday night that contributed to five unearned runs in a 5-3 loss to the Reds. Both of the guilty parties, Mark DeRosa and Mike Fontenot, were out of the lineup Tuesday.

"That's an area that definitely needs improvement, and it's my job to put people out there who can catch the ball," Piniella said. "I can't do it in every position, but I'm going to do it in as many positions as I can."

The only positions where he can really do it are center field and second base. Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno were given opportunities Tuesday, and may get more in the near future.

I would argue that Paul Sullivan (and Gordon Wittenmyer, for that matter) are wrong about the fact that center and second are the only positions where Lou could tinker with his defense. Theriot has been a subpar defensive shortstop at best so far this season. (At some point I'll try to get together an explanation on how to read the RZR and OOZ numbers - when reading RZR you have to factor in the OOZ plays yourself, which is annoying. The average shortstop in 2008 makes .842 in zone plays and .140 out of zone plays for every ball in zone, compared to .815 in-zone and .107 out of zone plays for every ball in-zone for Theriot.) Sullivan for his part says:

Look at the numbers. Theriot is hitting well and getting on base. Cedeno is hitting well and getting on base. Yes, Cedeno has more range and a better arm than Theriot, but Theriot has done nothing yet to lose the starting job at short.

Yes, if you completely ignore any numbers that have to do with hitting for extra bases, fielding or running the bases, Theriot has done nothing to lose the starting job at short.

One player who could benefit immensely from Piniella's newfound enthusiasm for defense is Felix Pie, whose defensive value isn't limited to making web gems. But oh does he make web gems. As for Ronny Cedeno:

Lou Piniella was asked if Cedeno would get more playing time.

"Let's see," Piniella said. "He's going to tell me how much he wants to play."

I really don't know if it's possible for Cedeno to shout any louder.

Eyre's return is being pushed back to the weekend series. Who will be going to Iowa in exchange? (Please say Fontenot. Please say Fontenot.)