An unintentionally amusing tidbit at the end of Paul Sullivan's game story:

Piniella did not want to extend his ace in his first outing. Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless seventh, before it all blew up on Grabow. Asked whether Marshall's role would change, Piniella had heard enough.

"We just played two games, sir," he shot back. "We're not in our 22nd game or our 42nd game. We've played two games for God's sake. What do you want, roles to change in two games?

"Look, it was just a tough loss, and we'll leave it at that."

We'll pass by the not-so subtle "ace" dig here (Dempster's now the ace? When did that happen? I thought it was Ted Lilly?) and focus on Piniella's response, which is inconsistent with his past behavior.

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Such as?

Let's take a look at two games into the 2008 season, after Piniella said Alfonso Soriano wouldn't bat leadoff any more. From the WV23 archives:

When asked two weeks ago if Alfonso Soriano would "ever" bat leadoff again, Lou Piniella said:

"Not right now, no," Piniella said. "With the cold weather in Chicago, taking away that responsibility where he has to run, run, run, that's a recipie where we're looking for problems. We'll keep Theriot in the No. 1 hole."

We were of course skeptical - and predicted this would change by April 21, when Soriano would be moved back into the leadoff spot.

Instead, it took just two games:

"It's something I've been thinking about since the end of Spring Training, and we'll go with it," Piniella said. "Soriano is running better. We'll put him in the leadoff hole, where he's more comfortable, and let him hit there."

So sometimes things do change after two games, Lou.