Cubs take in the scene at White House

July 18, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Cubbies Do Washington played out again Friday with a return engagement at the White House for the men in blue -- this time a half-dozen players touring the president's house.

''The cool part was all the history,'' said Jake Fox, who joined teammates Micah Hoffpauir, Sam Fuld, Reed Johnson, Carlos Zambrano and Derrek Lee, along with Zambrano's wife, Lee's wife and Lee's 6-year-old daughter, Jada.

''Sitting on furniture and seeing pictures that have been there for 100 years, it's amazing,'' Fox said. ''Here we are, just normal citizens, walking through here and being able to stand in the same place as some of the most important people in history have stood.''

Well, sort of normal. This Capitol gang got a semi-personal tour that takes the average citizen three months or more to arrange -- a day after manager Lou Piniella and his family enjoyed a five-minute audience with President Obama at the White House.

It was Lee's second visit to the White House -- he was part of a ''baseball dinner'' hosted by President Bush three years ago -- but the first time he was able to roam much.

''It was cool,'' he said. ''When we went there before, we went straight up the stairs and ate dinner, and this time I got a chance to look around.''

Left-hander Ted Lilly's bothersome left knee is of particular concern to Piniella because the injury could conspire with other Cubs ailments to rob the bullpen of the pitching staff's linchpin, Sean Marshall.

If Lilly's knee forces him to be pushed back beyond Monday, then Marshall would be forced into the rotation to fill in for Lilly, potentially leaving the pen without a lefty.

''He's one of the keys to our bullpen functioning well,'' Piniella said of Marshall, who pitched another 1 1/3 scoreless innings Friday. ''Hopefully, he'll stay in the bullpen.''

After lunching at the White House on Thursday with senior presidential adviser David Axelrod, Piniella got a visit from Axelrod at his office before the game Friday.•