AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Lou Piniella has guided the Cubs to their second consecutive National League Central title.

PINIELLA HAS MADE ALL THE RIGHT MOVES

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN

When you look back at the Cubs the year before Lou Piniella took over as manager, they lost 96 games. Two years ago, Piniella's first year, I was in uniform with the Cubs during spring training. We had a four-run lead in a spring training game and a lot of the guys who were on the field weren't going to be part of the team by April, but most of the team was still there sitting on the bench. Next thing you know, we started kicking it around out there and we'd given up the lead. I'd never been in the dugout for one of Piniella's eruptions, but he got up and started going up and down the line saying, "That's those Cubbies that lost 96 games! Now it's all coming out. Now, I can see what they were talking about. Boys, you can't win baseball games like this. You've got to pay attention! Is anybody paying attention?" In other words, he went off.

Even the coaches came up to me afterward and said "Now you know, man. That's Lou."

But Piniella was making the point that if they were going to keep playing like that, they were going to have him all over them every day.

While he certainly knows how to motivate, it's Piniella's ability to evaluate that has helped this team evolve from 66-96 to where they are today. This is the first time since 1908 that the Cubs have gone to the postseason in back-to-back seasons. If you had to just pick one person responsible for the transformation, it would have to be Piniella.

A couple of years ago, Piniella noticed Ryan Theriot starting to press a couple of weeks into spring training. Piniella took him aside and told him to relax, that he was coming to Chicago with him. When everyone was focusing on Theriot's limitations, saying he had a weak arm and no power, Piniella looked right at me and said that he knew Theriot was the kind of guy he could win with. And if you look at Theriot, he has won championships in college at LSU and in the minor leagues. He reminds me a lot of Craig Counsell or David Eckstein. When you see a big inning from the Cubs these days, he always seems to be right in the middle of it.

Piniella also recognized the problems with the starting rotation he inherited with Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. He knew something had to be done. They parted ways with Prior, but he saw something that told him that Wood could be the closer. It was his idea to put Ryan Dempster back in the rotation and move Wood to the bullpen, knowing Wood's arm couldn't hold up to the innings needed out of a starter. Piniella figured if he was going to be able to throw only two innings effectively, why not make it the last two.

Piniella would be quick to tell you that the players deserve the credit. But the one thing a good manager does is put the players in a position to succeed. Take a look at center field, for instance. Back in May, Piniella saw that they had only five home runs from left-handed hitters. He said they couldn't win like that. That's when he decided to give Jim Edmonds a try. Now, if you look at their production out of center field since the All-Star break, it's completely changed, and they're doing it with two guys who had been released in Edmonds and Reed Johnson. Piniella isn't throwing Johnson out there every day, especially against the tough right-handers. That's where Edmonds comes in. Likewise, Edmonds doesn't have to face the best lefties. They are put in a spot where they can succeed.

As great a job as Joe Torre is doing with those characters in Los Angeles, Piniella is my National League Manager of the Year.

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METS LIT UP BY MARQUIS

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

The Cubs clinched the best record in the National League with a win against the struggling Mets on Monday night at Shea Stadium. The Cubs did it in grand fashion.

New York native Jason Marquis came back home for a day and had one of the most memorable performances of his career. When Marquis was a star for the Staten Island team that advanced to the Little League World Series, he was known both for his bat and his arm. Both worked well again Monday. He clubbed a grand slam and got through 6 2/3 innings to earn the win.

Marquis' grand night

• Most RBIs (5) by a pitcher in an MLB game this season.

• Second pitcher with a grand slam against the Mets this season. The Mariners' Felix Hernandez was the other.

• Set Shea Stadium record for RBIs in a game by a pitcher.

• Five RBIs matched his season total entering the day.

• Five RBIs tied Cubs record for RBIs by a pitcher (last done: Milt Pappas, 1972 vs. Mets)

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Who went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

Click here to find out who hit the longest home run. For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME	HR	OPP	PITCHER	SITUATION
J. Hermida, Fla	17	Cin	Harang	Top 1: 1-1, 1 Outs. None on.
J. Willingham, Fla	12	Cin	Harang	Top 3: 1-2, 2 Outs. None on.
J. Votto, Cin	22	Fla	Nolasco	Bot 6: 0-0, 2 Outs. None on.
J. Marquis, ChC	2	NYM	Niese	Top 4: 0-0, 0 Outs. Gr. Slam.
D. Lee, ChC	20	NYM	Figueroa	Top 4: 1-1, 2 Outs. None on.
K. Johnson, Atl	12	Phi	Happ	Top 6: 0-1, 1 Outs. 1 on.
D. Ortiz, Bos	23	Cle	Jackson	Bot 5: 2-1, 2 Outs. None on.
D. Wright, NYM	33	ChC	Marquis	Bot 7: 0-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
P. Burrell, Phi	33	Atl	Tavarez	Bot 8: 3-1, 2 Outs. 2 on.
S. Drew, Ari	20	StL	Wellemeyer	Top 6: 3-1, 2 Outs. None on.
V. Guerrero, LAA	25	Sea	Rowland-Smith	Top 4: 0-0, 1 Outs. None on.
H. Blalock, Tex	9	Oak	Ziegler	Bot 9: 2-1, 0 Outs. None on.