"Whether Carlos Pena is back at first base for the Cubs next season won't have nearly the impact as who joins Matt Garza in the starting rotation under the next general manager and/or manager.

Neither could keep the Cubs from losing 8-3 to the Atlanta Braves on Thursday and consequently losing a series for only the second time this month.

''It is what it is, man,'' said Garza, who struggled with command at times and committed one of the Cubs' four errors.

Three of the six runs he allowed were unearned.

But Garza's continued presence at the front end of the rotation, along with returning veteran Ryan Dempster, looks critical to any turnaround the Cubs might hope to make any time soon.

And when the Cubs refused to trade Pena to the New York Yankees this week after the Yankees were granted a waiver claim on the lefty slugger, it may have offered at least some insight into the Rickettses' vision of the ''culture change'' they want to achieve.

''I was pleasantly surprised,'' Pena said of the Cubs' move to pull him back off waivers, given the uncertainty since the club announced the firing of former GM Jim Hendry."