MESA—Carlos Silva is telling everyone – including his mother – that he is back to being an effective major league pitcher.Silva helped the Cubs to a 4-1 victory over the Texas Rangers.When the Cubs wanted to send Milton Bradley to Seattle, Silva was the high-priced underachiever the Mariners insisted the Northsiders take in the deal.The Cubs hoped he’d pitch as he did during his four seasons in Minnesota and not his two years in Seattle – where at 5-18 with a 7.01 ERA, Silva was one of the worst starters in baseball.After getting pounded in his first spring outing, he has pitched seven straight scoreless innings. Silva, who has two years and $25 million left on his contract, was especially strong Tuesday, limiting Texas to two hits and striking out three.Now Silva is closing in on a spot in the Cubs’ rotation. Jeff Baker hit a homer and the other three Cubs runs came in the third off starter Neftali Feliz, a 21-year-old righty who is a longshot to make the rotation.Xavier Nady had a two-run double off Feliz and Marlon Byrd followed with an RBI single against his former team.There were 23 strikeouts in the game, 12 by Texas batters. Chris Davis, whose .538 average entering the game was the highest in spring exhibitions among all qualifiers, struck out three times. Texas is batting .185 in losing its last four games.

NOTES—Ted Lilly (offseason shoulder surgery) could be back well before May 1 that had been mentioned often by Lou Piniella. Lilly is scheduled to pitch batting practice Thursday and then again a few days later. He’d then work a simulated game. After that would come a spring exhibition outing, followed by two minor-league starts. With no setbacks, Piniella said, Lilly could be pitching for the Cubs by mid-April. … Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler, out since Friday with a sprained right ankle, is expected to miss at least another week. … An MRI of Texas RHP Warner Madrigal’s sore right forearm showed no damage but the Rangers didn’t know when he’d pitch again. … Piniella said Kevin Millar, a candidate to be Derrek Lee’s backup, will get some time in LF to see if he can handle the position.