"I'm not hurt," Zambrano said Wednesday after reports that he had a stiff shoulder surfaced in the Chicago Sun-Times. "Just check out my outing on Friday. I have nothing else to say."

The Cubs right-hander, who is 6-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 10 starts, did have a stiff neck from sleeping awkwardly before his last start, but that problem was short-lived. He had one of his best side sessions on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park.

"He's pitching Friday," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said on Wednesday. "I don't know where all this stuff came from, but [pitching coach] Larry Rothschild told me yesterday he had the best throw day he's had all year. Physically, there's nothing wrong."

Zambrano was able to get Yoshi Nakazawa, the Japanese trainer who has joined the Cubs along with Kosuke Fukudome, to give him a little shoulder massage on Wednesday in the clubhouse, but that seemed to be more for effect.

"There's never been any concern. There's never been any question of any concern," Piniella said of the right-hander, who will open the Cubs' weekend series against the Pirates. "I'm more concerned about my shoulder than I am his. And there's nothing wrong with mine."