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HOUSTON – Carlos Marmol was impressive enough during a simulated game at Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday that the Cubs are thinking about moving up his return to game action by a day.

Acting manager Jamie Quirk said that Marmol could pitch for Iowa on Friday instead of Saturday, but didn’t know of a timetable when the right-hander might return to the major leagues.

Marmol has been out since May 12 with a right hamstring strain. He had already been pulled from his closer role before the injury.

CHICAGO –Carlos Marmol and Steve Clevenger appear to be closing in on a return to the roster as both will head out this week on minor-league rehab assignments.

Clevenger, who has been out since April with a strained oblique and a cracked rib, took batting practice at Wrigley Field on Sunday and will take batting practice at Iowa on Monday. He will then start playing in games Tuesday, working his way up to nine innings by the end of the week.

Marmol, who has been out since May 12 with a right hamstring strain, will also be heading to Iowa on Monday. He will throw a side session Monday, a simulated game Wednesday and pitch in an actual game Fiday.

Neither is expected to return until the Cubs open their next home stand May 28 against the San Diego Padres.

Catcher Geovany Soto, who had arthroscopic surgery Friday on his left knee to repair a partially torn meniscus, was back at Wrigley Field on Sunday to begin his rehab process.

MILWAUKEE – The Cubs put Carlos Marmol on the disabled list Saturday with a strained right hamstring and recalled right-hander Casey Coleman from Triple-A Iowa.

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MILWAUKEE -- Carlos Marmol appears headed to the disabled list, the biggest casualty of the Chicago Cubs' 8-7 13-inning defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Marmol was diagnosed with a strained right hamstring and will head back to Chicago for an MRI on Saturday.

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CHICAGO -- Carlos Marmol is no longer the closer, Kerry Wood has been hurt and has struggled in the setup role and Lendy Castillo is rarely used.

Dale Sveum knew that one of his toughest tasks as a first-time manager would be to maintain a bullpen with some question marks, but he never imagined this.

“Um, yeah, I guess you can probably say that,” Sveum said about bullpen management being harder than expected. “I think because we’re trying to be optimistic about everything with the team.”

There are bright bullpen spots too, though, and James Russell and Rafael Dolis are two of them. The lefty Russell pitched a scoreless eighth inning Wednesday in support of starter Paul Maholm and the righty Dolis finished it off with a scoreless ninth for a 1-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

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Carlos Marmol's turnaround eighth inning in Monday night's Chicago Cubs win was something president of baseball operations Theo Epstein watched with special interest. Marmol regained his form and his aura, turning catcalls by the fans into cheers.

“The way to work through it in this (ballpark) is to take the feedback you get sometimes and turn it into a positive,” Epstein said. “Last night he said the booing motivated him because he knew he had to get it right and that is a mature approach. So you might as well turn it into a positive.”

Before Tuesday night’s game, Cubs manager Dale Sveum said that although Marmol has been demoted from the closer’s role for now, he would like to see him regain his former position. Epstein concurred.

“I think everyone has to recognize he wants to succeed as much as anyone else,” Epstein said. “No one wants to go out there and fail, especially in a role when you let your teammates down. But he is paid a lot of money to do a job and his has a lot of support around him. It’s up to him to go out and fix himself, but I have not seen any signs of him backing down.”

Marmol lost his job after imploding in a save opportunity against the Reds last week. The Cubs reliever is in the second year of a three-year, $21 million deal he signed before the 2011 season.

CHICAGO -- It’s still hard to tell if the Carlos Marmol from two years ago is back, but he put on a show Monday and stirred the crowd into a frenzy.

The struggling right-hander, who officially was removed from his closer role Friday, was used in a setup spot Monday out of necessity and took what was left of a crowd of 36,307 from anger to pure elation.

With new closer Rafael Dolis getting a day off after working two innings Sunday and James Russell closing for the day, Marmol was called upon in the eighth inning with the Cubs holding a two-run lead.

His control issues emerged quickly as he walked the first two batters he faced but then something seemed to click.

Marmol got Freddie Freeman to line out up the middle, but that out might have more to do with the infield positioning than what Marmol was doing on the mound. But then he struck out Brian McCann and Dan Uggla to end the threat.

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CHICAGO -- After taking a series from the Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs got a jump on the Atlanta Braves with a 5-1 victory Monday.

How it happened: Jeff Samardzija was solid yet again, giving up one run on five hits over seven innings. Carlos Marmol put everybody on a roller coaster ride in a set-up role during the eighth inning, walking two while striking out two without giving up a run. The power game continues to emerge as Bryan LaHair, Ian Stewart and Geovany Soto all went deep.

What it means: It’s too soon to say that the old Marmol is back, but he finally showed the fire that had been missing. After creating his own mess with a pair of walks to lead off the inning, he escaped the jam with a line drive and two strikeouts, all with no mound visit from the bench. When it was done Marmol pounded his chest and sent the crowd in to a frenzy, something that didn’t seem likely any time soon when he was removed from his closer role on Friday.

Outside the box: LaHair and Stewart gave the Cubs their first back-to-back home runs of the season when the left-handed sluggers each connected in the fourth inning. It was the first time the Cubs had back-to-back home runs since another first-base, third-base combination did the trick Aug. 11 of last season. Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena pulled it off that day.

Off beat: Reed Johnson got more than he bargained for as a fill-in for Alfonso Soriano in left field. In the second inning, he had to prevent a Tommy Hanson fastball from hitting him in the face by turning his left shoulder into the pitch. Two innings later he thought he had his revenge only to fly out to the base of the left field wall in what was nearly the third home run in three batters for the Cubs. Johnson may or may not be happy to know that Soriano is expected to return to left field Tuesday.

Up next: The Cubs will send right-hander Ryan Dempster (0-1, 0.95 ERA) to the mound in the middle game of the three-game series against Atlanta. The Braves will answer with right-hander Randall Delgado (2-3, 5.14) in the 7:05 p.m. start from Wrigley Field.

CHICAGO -- It hasn’t been a week since Carlos Marmol was pulled from his closer role, but manager Dale Sveum suggested Monday that the right-hander could get the job back, at least temporarily.

With new closer Rafael Dolis used for two innings on Sunday, as well as pitching in four of the last five games, Sveum was giving his right-hander a much-deserved night off.

With four left-handed hitters in the Braves’ lineup, Sveum could go with left-hander James Russell at closer if necessary. But there is always Marmol.

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STREAKING

1. Bryan LaHair, 1B: The Cubs’ early season MVP continues to put up All-Star numbers and have impressive at-bats, working the count and hitting the ball to the opposite field. LaHair has been on the Streaking list every week of the season. The Cubs have 15 home runs, and LaHair accounts for almost half with seven, including three last week. His .390 batting average heading into Monday’s game ranked second in the National League as did his .478 on-base percentage.

2. Starlin Castro, SS: The stolen base is the latest weapon that this future superstar has begun to develop. Castro has 11 steals which puts him on pace for 60 this season. Give credit to the Cubs coaching staff, which has worked hard with Castro and the entire team on being aggressive on the basepaths since the start of spring training. Castro once again had a solid week at the plate, hitting over .400 with a home run and 7 RBIs and is batting .345, good for sixth in the National League.

SLUMPING

1. Carlos Marmol, RP: A penchant for using his slider rather than his fastball cost Marmol the closer job for now. A meltdown of enormous proportions in Cincinnati had the coaching staff and Marmol headed back to the basics on rediscovering his fastball grip. He walked seven and allowed four runs in three innings last week and has a 5.59 ERA with 13 walks in 9 2/3 innings this season. On a positive note he had a shutout inning in a mop-up role on Saturday against the Dodgers.

2. Chris Volstad, SP: Winless in his starts since since July 10, 2011, Volstad seems to be a different pitcher with runners on base. Most of his innings have been decent except for one fatal frame per game. Last week Volstad gave up nine earned runs in 11 innings over two starts. He is 0-4 with a 6.55 ERA in four starts this season. Manager Dale Sveum said Volstad will stay in the rotation for now, however a move to the bullpen could take place if he doesn’t pick up his game soon.

CHICAGO -- The trick for getting Carlos Marmol back to form might be to hide the scoreboard.

In his first outing since being removed from the closer’s role, Marmol did walk the leadoff man and uncork a wild pitch, but he got a ground out, a pop up and a strikeout of the left-handed hitting James Loney for a scoreless eighth inning.

That’s more than he can say for three of his last five outings when he allowed the opponent to score.

Not pitching in the ninth inning with the game on the line seemed to make a difference for the shaky right-hander. Perhaps it was that and the fact that he is finally listening to the coaching staff.

“He threw his fastball and threw it for strikes,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I think that was encouraging for him that he can throw his fastball a lot. He still got the strikeout on the last pitch, a slider, but sometimes that thing gets set up because of the fastballs he's throwing. He threw, I think at one time, five fastballs in a row which he doesn't do that very often.”

In other bullpen news right-hander Lendy Castillo made his first appearance since April 20 and was impressive, giving up just one hit over two scoreless innings.

CHICAGO -- The Cubs are beginning to play better baseball and part of the reason is solid starting pitching.

Left-hander Paul Maholm continued that trend on Friday, throwing six innings of one-run baseball while winning his third consecutive start. The team’s ERA during the last 12 games is under 2.40. Maholm has an ERA of 1.20 in his last three outings.

“The command of the curve ball has been big for him,” said manager Dale Sveum. “One of his first games, it was as cold as it could possibly be, and when you are a feel pitcher with four different pitches it’s not the easiest thing to do.”

Maholm is one of four starters who have given the team a chance to win as of late. The Cubs are 7-5 since April 21, holding teams to a .190 batting average over that period of time.

“So far we are trying to out-pitch each other,” Maholm said. “It’s a little friendly competition where you are pushing each other so you try to go out there and do everything you can to match it.”

Maholm had to come out of the game after six innings do to a sore right leg. The Dodgers’ Dee Gordon hit a one-hopper off of the pitcher’s right leg.

“I wasn’t going to argue with (the coaches),” he said. “I was still good to go back out and pitch, but they made a decision for a pinch-hitter and obviously it was throbbing, so I wasn’t going to argue.”

End-game switch

The Cubs’ new closer for the day was Rafael Dolis, who replaced the ineffective Carlos Marmol. Dolis worked his way out of a jam by getting Bobby Abreu to line out with the tying run on base for his second save of the season.

“That is part of the reason why we think he can handle this role,” said Sveum. “During spring training, he showed a lot of poise. He bounces back even if he goes ball one or two, he doesn’t lose the count. It’s been pretty impressive what he has been able to do at such a young age.”

Notes

• Sveum was ejected from the game by home-plate umpire Marty Foster. The skipper was standing up for a pitch by Dolis that would have ended the game to A.J. Ellis.

“I was asking questions,” Sveum said. “I just asked the wrong one.”

• Sveum said after the game that Saturday’s starter Matt Garza will be scratched do to a virus. Right-hander Chris Volstad will start instead of Garza.

CHICAGO -- The most recent meltdown by Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol is not a result of a lack of preparation by the pitcher or poor instruction by the coaching staff but rather long-term abuse of one of the most unique and talented arms in the game.

Marmol has more appearances than any pitcher since 2008. The reason past managers could overuse him is two-fold. Until early 2011, Marmol was so resilient that he encouraged the coaches to use him in tie games or when the team was trailing by a run late. And over the past two seasons, the coaching staff fell into a comfortable mode of using former setup man Sean Marshall and Marmol at the end of games. That was a sure-fire formula for short-term success and long-term attrition on your relievers.

To the credit of manager Dale Sveum and pitching coach Chris Bosio, the Cubs came up with a plan to give Marmol a new pitch to cut down on the wear and tear that had sapped the pitcher of his 95 mph fastball. Bosio helped Marmol develop a sinking fastball (two-seamer) to work on in the middle of March. The Cubs hoped the two-seam fastball would help cut down on Marmol’s dependence on the slider which no longer is an unhittable pitch.

The last straw for Sveum was the pitcher’s insistence on using the slider 90 percent of the time in his ill-fated appearance in the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in 10 innings on Thursday.

“The main thing is that you have to make [Marmol] understand that as a big-league pitcher you have to throw a fastball right down the middle when you have three-run leads and people are not going to swing the bat,” Sveum said. “Carlos just falls back on those really good times when he had that great slider and being able to throw it for a strike any time.”

For now Marmol will go into a seventh- or eighth-inning role until he adjusts to using the fastball as his primary pitch to get ahead of hitters. He can be an effective closer again, but his days of striking out two batters an inning are in the past.

CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum informed Carlos Marmol Friday that he is out as the closer a day after the struggling reliever blew a 3-0 ninth-inning lead in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

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Since the beginning of the 2011 season, no one has more blown saves than the Cubs’ Carlos Marmol. Manager Dale Sveum is now hinting at Marmol’s role changing on the North Side.