7/10 First half surprises

Lou Piniella was asked Saturday about any first half surprises.

“I thought consistently we’d swing the bats better,” he said. “We’re starting to show some signs we’re hitting the ball better. I thougt coming out of Spring Training that we’d score runs a little more consistently than we have.

“This team here is basically built for power and to score runs,” he said. “A few of our young kids — I like the way [Tyler] Colvin has played, I like the way [Starlin] Castro has played, I like [Andrew] Cashner’s future. [Sean] Marshall has done a nice job out ouf the pen.”

The Cubs entered Saturday’s game ranked 14th in the National League in runs scored and 12th in batting average.

“As far as the team is concerned,” Piniella said, “the only surprise is the fact that run-wise we haven’t scored as many as we thought we would.”

– Carrie Muskat