Entering Saturday, the Cubs were 16-8 when Felix Pie played and 11-24 when he didn’t. Manager Lou Piniella was slow to acknowledge Pie’s value, even if he did have veterans in front of him. … Make it 426 career starts without a no-hitter for Curt Schilling, who got within one out of one before Shannon Stewart’s single on Thursday. That’s a lot, but not 690, which was Roger Clemens’ count entering his 2007 debut Saturday. … Nothing in baseball is less predictable than relief pitching, as the White Sox and Cubs have been reminded daily in recent weeks. Ditto the Orioles, who invested $42 million in a bullpen upgrade last winter but have seen Danys Baez struggle, Scott Williamson and Todd Williams too often unavailable and Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker lose effectiveness from being overworked. …
Great matchup on Sunday in Detroit — the Mets’ Tom Glavine vs. Andrew Miller, who grew up watching him. Miller is replacing the disabled Nate Robertson in the Tigers’ starting rotation. He held St. Louis scoreless for six innings in an emergency start in place of Jeremy Bonderman last month, then returned to Double-A Erie. He has given up only two earned runs in his last 28 2/3 innings overall, flashing the changeup and command manager Jim Leyland wants to see. … Detroit’s bullpen remains a concern. It entered the weekend with a 5.46 ERA; none of the eight playoff teams had higher bullpen ERAs than 4.18 last year. The Tigers reportedly are interested in three Texas relievers — Eric Gagne, Akinori Otsuka and lefty C.J. Wilson. … The Cardinals are starting to sniff .500, which could be bad news for the NL Central. They hope to get Mark Mulder back from shoulder surgery in July and Chris Carpenter from elbow surgery in August. Mulder is throwing off a mound.
