By Paul Sullivan, 12:04 p.m.

A lemon-scented Will Ohman returned to the Cubs clubhouse Saturday morning, hoping to change the perception surrounding him since the Barking Shouldergate episode of last month, while Lou Piniella wrestled with a new six-man rotation that's actually a five-man rotation with an asterisk.

It was an active morning in Cubdom, with Ohman apologizing and admitting he made a "mistake" in throwing the team's medical staff "under the bus" with his controversial remarks upon being demoted to Triple-A Iowa.

"The way things went down when I left, and everything ensued afterwards, I made a mistake," Ohman said. "I really messed up. It was not in any way intentional to hurt anyone or mar the organization, or upset fans or teammates alike. The times you feel the worst about stuff is when you hurt someone and it's unintentional. In no way was I trying to theoretically, throw someone under the bus, or anything like that. From the heart, I just wanted to apologize."

Ohman said he called trainer Mark O'Neal in Denver three weeks ago after Ohman's claim that his shoulder was hurt and the training staff knew it became a point of contention with Cubs management, which insisted no one was told the left-hander was ailing.

"This is over and we move on from here," Ohman said.

Not quite. Ohman's teammates placed the pink backpack on his locker to greet him. It's the same backpack traditionally carried out to the bullpen by the reliever with the least amount of service time, a sort of hazing ritual that began a few years ago.

Ohman's locker was also moved down into the Ohman Zone, the area which Ohman planned to limit media access to on the day before he was sent down to Iowa. Steve Trachsel was placed in Ohman's old locker, which formerly belonged to Sammy Sosa and his boom box.

Whether Ohman will be used in his old role is unclear.

"Let's see how he's throwing," Piniella said. "Obviously he's here to get left-handed hitters out. He's done that in the past, and I'm sure he'll do it now."

As for Piniella's rotation plans, they can only be described as "in a state of flux" at this particular point in time. Piniella confirmed that Carlos Zambrano would start Monday against Los Angeles, and that he would not be affected by any changes brought about by the addition of Trachsel, who is likely to start either Tuesday or Wednesday against the Dodgers.

If Trachsel starts Wednesday, that puts him in line to make the start Sept. 10 at Wrigley in the makeup game against St. Louis. Piniella said he'd probably start on Tuesday, however.

Piniella also indicated that Sean Marshall may either skip a start or be moved back a few days in the rotation, though a Cubs spokesman said afterwards that nothing had been determined concerning Marshall's status.

"Right now it's real muddled," Piniella said.

How muddled? That's all dependent on your definition of the word "muddled."

"I can't pitch six people," Piniella said. "That's one thing I can't do. So we can skip Marshall one time, and then we've got to work from there."

Piniella said whoever is not starting will go to long relief. Sean Gallagher was called up from Iowa to be the right-handed long reliever, which allows Kerry Wood to go back to a one-inning relief role, allowing the Cubs to use him more.

Zambrano will remain on schedule, pitching every fifth day, though he won't be on tap to pitch against the Cardinals.

"The people here that basically we've given a little time to are the three lefties (Marshall, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill) more than anything else," Piniella said.

At one point late in his press briefing, Piniella handed me his sheet of pitching probables for September.

"Now if you want to figure it out, we'll give it to you," Piniella said. "If you come up with a good solution, be my guest."

Thanks, Lou, but I'll turn it over to the readers. What's your solution to the Cubs rotation? Any comments will be forwarded directly to Lou.