(Courtesy of The Sports Xchange) At one point during the offseason, the Cubs were hoping Wade Miller would recover from September shoulder surgery and be able to pitch for the Cubs in May.

He is not progressing as quickly, however. On Monday night, Miller threw three-plus innings for Class A Peoria in a rehab assignment, and his fastball topped out at 85 mph.

The Cubs are not looking at shutting him down just yet, but they are not expecting any miracles, either.

"He has worked extremely hard, he's a gamer and everything is coming back except his velocity," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "And he's not going to be successful in the big leagues at 84-85 (mph).

"Maybe by September he'll be throwing good and good enough that there's a chance he may return (in 2007). He knows he has to get better. This is a standup guy. He's disappointed that he's not coming along faster, too. He'll come here (Wednesday) and throw (a bullpen session) in front of (pitching coach) Larry (Rothschild) and sit down and have a chat on the next step."

REPLAY: The Cubs saw plenty of opportunities fly by as they left 10 runners on base in Tuesday's 7-2 loss to Houston at Minute Maid Park.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Derrek Lee singled home Juan Pierre, but Houston answered with seven consecutive runs. Mark Prior fell to 0-4, and reliever Glendon Rusch gave up three ninth-inning runs in his first game since coming off the disabled list with back spasms. Henry Blanco hit his fourth homer of the season in the ninth inning.

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NOTES

--RHP Mark Prior showed improvement Tuesday but still fell to 0-4 in four starts since returning from a shoulder injury. Prior hasn't won since Sept. 10, 2005. He struck out seven batters in six innings against Houston but uncorked a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth inning that eventually led to two runs.

--CF Juan Pierre notched three hits Tuesday and now has 13 over his past five games.

--INF/OF Phil Nevin was moved from left to right field so that both he and LF Matt Murton could be in the lineup against Houston LHP Andy Pettitte while left-handed-hitting Jacque Jones rode the bench.

--RHP Carlos Zambrano has a sore left knee, but Cubs manager Dusty Baker feels he will be ready to make his scheduled appearance against Milwaukee on Friday and will be able to throw an inning for the National League in the All-Star game Tuesday.

--LHP Sean Marshall faces Houston at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night. In the rookie's lone appearance at the park on June 7, he gave up one run on four hits in seven innings but lost a 1-0 decision to the Astros.

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