Cubs manager Lou Piniella got off with a warning Tuesday when San Diego police stopped him for jaywalking in the Gaslamp District.
Piniella was talking to his son on his phone when he heard a police siren, and stopped to see what was up.
“But it was for me,” he said.
White Sox general manager Ken Williams recently was ticketed for jaywalking in Seattle and fined $50. Are the police profiling Chicago baseball management types?
“They might be,” Piniella said with a laugh. “Kenny can afford it more than me.”
Wild card watching: The Cubs began the day four games behind wild card-leading Colorado, and six games behind division-leading St. Louis.
Is it time to start focusing on the wild card race?
“Just focus on one game,” Derrek Lee said. “Get as many wins as we can and see where we’re at.”
Piniella agreed, saying: “I don’t think you need to separate” the divisional race from the wild card race.
“Obviously the Cardinals are playing as well as anybody. But if you’re playing well in one, you’re going to be competing in the other,” he said. “What we need to do is win some baseball games. And we need to put a streak together. We haven’t had one in a long, long time. Are we capable of it? Yeah, but we just can’t continue to lose some of these games that seemingly are won. We’ll see what happens.”
Future shock? Kevin Gregg, who lost his closer’s role, is a free agent after the season, and how he performs in the final six weeks will have a big say in whether he returns.
Gregg said he won’t worry about it until the end of the season, but conceded he still wants to be a closer.
“I love the job, I love the pressure that comes with it, the responsibility,” he said. “But right now we have to win games, and we have to go with the hot hand.”
Extra innings: Ryan Theriot has recovered from the stomach flu and was back in the starting lineup Tuesday at Petco Park. …
Lee entered the day with 42 RBIs since July 1, most of any major league player. He hit his 24th home run in the first inning and doubled in the third.
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Big number
63: Percent of save opportunities (29 of 46) Cubs have converted, after converting 64.7 percent in 2008.
