ST. LOUIS -- You don't mess with hurricanes, which is why the Cubs will have unexpected down time Friday and Saturday, part of what Lou Piniella called "Hurricane Ike hiatus."

The Cubs were originally scheduled to open a three-game series in Houston on Friday night at Minute Maid Park. But the Friday and Saturday games were postponed while Houston waits to see what Hurricane Ike decides to do. The storm was expected to make landfall in Texas early Saturday, and the city of Houston was in its path. Better to be safe, so Major League Baseball opted to postpone the games and take a wait-and-see approach.

Will the time off be good or bad?

"I don't know yet," Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood said. "We'll have to wait and see."

Jason Marquis, Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster were slated to start for the Cubs. Those plans are on hold while the Cubs wait for word on when -- and where -- they'll play.

"Our rotation is pretty well set, so we really wanted to play," Piniella said. "Now, depending on what will happen with the doubleheader, we're looking at bringing a pitcher back on his fourth day instead of his fifth day, so it'll probably cause us some problems. Our preference would've been to play, and Houston's hotter than a pistol, we know that."

The Astros are still in the Wild Card chase, so every game is as essential to them as the Cubs' games are.

"We've got to be ready to play, and we will be," pitcher Rich Harden said.

There is a chance the two teams will square off at a neutral site if Houston is considered unplayable. Wrigley Field was never an option, and reports that the Cubs wanted to play the games in Milwaukee were not true, Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. The Houston players wanted to be with their families rather than leave for a series somewhere Friday, so all the two teams can do is wait.

"It is weird," Chicago's Derrek Lee said. "It's Mother Nature. What are you going to do?"

After Thursday's game, a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs were headed back to Chicago, interrupting their longest road trip of the season. Whether they go to Houston depends on Ike.

"Unless this thing totally bypasses the Houston area, I don't know how you can get into Houston or if [the Astros] had to get out, I don't know how they'll get out," Piniella said.

Hendry expects to know more Friday. The Cubs could play a doubleheader Sunday and a day game Monday. As for neutral site options, someone suggested St. Petersburg since there's a dome and the Rays are out of town.

"We're 0-3 in [St. Petersburg]," Piniella said.

OK, where else?

"I don't know what baseball has in mind," Piniella said. "Whatever happens, happens."

It just adds another bit of texture to the Cubs' season.

"You play a doubleheader and you play a game on your off-day in the month of September down the stretch run, well, we're all big boys and whatever situation is thrown at us, you handle adversity all the time," Dempster said. "We'll go out and play hard every game and do what we have to do."

Going to Houston this weekend would be a good thing.

"If we're going there, it means [the hurricane] wasn't as bad as anticipated," Dempster said.

Pitching matchup
CHC: RHP Jason Marquis (10-8, 4.36 ERA)
Marquis faced the Reds in his last start and picked up a win, going 7 1/3 innings, his longest outing of the season. He gave up two runs on five hits and five walks, and now has reached 10 wins for the fifth straight season. Marquis is 1-0 against Houston this year; he did not get a decision on April 5 and picked up a win Aug. 6. The right-hander is 4-3 with a 4.23 ERA in nine second-half starts.

HOU: RHP Randy Wolf (10-11, 4.45)
Wolf is assured to get one of the starts in a potential doubleheader. In 14 career starts vs. the Cubs, Wolf is 3-6 with a 4.46 ERA, but he did pitch his 12th career complete game and seventh shutout in a 3-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sept. 3. He has allowed just five earned runs over his past three outings, a span of 22 innings. He held the Pirates to three runs on four hits in seven innings in his last start. Houston is 8-1 in Wolf's nine starts since the club acquired him from San Diego.

Tidbits
The Cubs' game Sept. 20 vs. the Cardinals at Wrigley Field will now start at 2:55 p.m. CT to accommodate FOX TV. ... Harden notched his fifth straight win Thursday, matching a career high previously done earlier in the year with Oakland. ... The Cubs have not homered in their last four games against St. Louis. It's the first time they've been homerless in a series against the Cardinals since a three-game set May 13-15, 2002, at old Busch Stadium. The Cubs also have not homered since Sept. 6. ... Piniella hasn't backed down from his earlier message on Tuesday when he said the team needed to kick some butt. "What I said is true -- if you don't play well in September, no lead is big enough," he said. "I was trying to get these guys riled up a little bit. I tried the other approach with a nice little meeting, and I think I put them to sleep. We tried the other approach."

On the Internet
 MLB.TV
 Gameday Audio
•  Gameday
•  Official game notes

On television
• CSN+

On radio
• WGN 720

Up next
• Sunday: Cubs (Carlos Zambrano, 13-5, 3.58) at Astros (Alberto Arias, 1-0, 1.93), TBA
• Monday: Cubs (Ryan Dempster, 15-6, 3.02) at Astros (Brian Moehler, 11-6, 4.16), 1:05 p.m. CT
• Tuesday: Cubs (TBA) at Brewers (CC Sabathia, 15-8, 2.81), 7:05 p.m. CT