SAN FRANCISCO -- Michael Barrett knows the Cubs' 1-8 trip didn't end with a 9-3 loss Thursday to the San Francisco Giants.

The catcher expects fans will have more to say about it today when the team returns to Wrigley Field to face the San Diego Padres.

"Our fans are great, and I'm excited to go home and have the support of our fans, but I do expect a reaction,'' Barrett said. "I don't blame them one bit for the reaction we'll probably get. It's just one of those things we'll have to deal with.

 

GIANTS 9

CUBS 3

"We can't get upset about it. We have to figure out a way to play our game and win. To come away with one win is really unexplainable. I've really got nothing for you as far as that goes. I don't know if I have ever had a trip this bad, personally.''

Sean Marshall -- who began the game leading all rookie starting pitchers with a 3.12 ERA -- had his first real stinker, allowing five runs in the first inning.

He was removed after allowing nine runs on nine hits and five walks in 3-2/3 innings and saw his ERA climb to 4.93.

"You can't always have outstanding outings,'' Marshall said. "Just minimize the ones like this, and you're going to have a good season.

"We're going to be fine. We started playing real well the last couple games, and it's going to be good to see what we do [today]. We're swinging the bats better. I think we're going to get on a streak.''

Manager Dusty Baker would like to think that Cubs fans won't heap more abuse on his battered club in its home park.

"You hope you get less crap, actually,'' he said. "We're going home licking our wounds. We're not going home looking for more wounds. You go home to heal. This is a long, long race. There's going to be ups and downs. My job is to figure a way out of it.''

His job was being discussed in the clubhouse afterward. One person said he had heard about an Internet report claiming Baker was about to be fired. But an Internet search found no such story, and the sensitivity to unfounded rumors is just another fallout from a losing situation.

Baker said he plans to rest Todd Walker today. Walker, one of the Cubs' best hitters at .294, went 5-for-35 on the trip with a double, one RBI and two runs scored.

"We got beat up pretty good,'' Walker said. "I know stuff changes in this game. We're not going to continue to go on this bad of a streak all year long. Collectively, we're not getting the two-out hits, and some of these games we are getting behind so much, people start to press.''

While Baker said he feels that Walker needs a blow, Walker didn't admit to being weary.

"I don't feel tired,'' he said. "All I can do is put the ball in play. I know my own game. Give me five more hits than I've got now, and I'd be .350.''

Baker said Juan Pierre will return to the leadoff spot today after Ronny Cedeno filled it the last two games, with Pierre batting second. Pierre was 7-for-37 on the trip with just one run scored, but he is eager to return to leading off.

"I'd rather have that burden on me than somebody else,'' he said.

Some have criticized Baker for not showing raw anger in public at his situation. He said he wouldn't want people to see that side of him, and he added that such displays of emotion make for good gossip but poor management skills.

"I remember Eddie Mathews turned over the food spread once,'' Baker said about one of his former managers in Atlanta. "What's that going to do, get your blood pressure up so you can have a heart attack?

"We thought it was ridiculous. We went and washed the hot dogs and ate 'em.

"I have run this race many times. If you let this game dictate your anger and moods, how are you supposed to keep everybody else out there confident. If this game controls your moods up and down, then if I was a drinking man during these eight games, I'd have been an alcoholic. I've seen guys do that, too.''

There's no doubt that this was a bottoms-up trip.

mkiley@suntimes.com