Winning the game, losing a star
The Cubs won another game, 7-2 over the Braves, in front of a friendly crowd at Wrigley. Ho hum.
The real news of last night’s game was the loss of leftfielder Alfonso Soriano, who broke his ring finger after being hit by a pitch in the second inning. All estimates point to a six week absence for Mr. Soriano.
So, for those of you who can’t stand Soriano I ask you this: are you really comfortable going six weeks without him leading off?
Chicago survived his last DL stint in the middle of April, going 9-5 without much of a drop in runs. And thanks to Aramis Ramirez, Derreck Lee, Mark DeRosa, Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome the Cubs shouldn’t struggle to score.
But six weeks is a lot longer than 15 days, and unlike the last time he sat out, Soriano was one of the team’s best hitters. He led the team in home runs (15) and was fourth in RBI (43). Much different than the numbers he was posting going into his last injury (.192 BA, 2 HR, 5 RBI).
Soriano haters are probably giving each other Obama-like fist bumps in celebration of the day Chicago could place a “real” lead off hitter in the No. 1 slot. To use a very old cliché, be careful what you wish for folks. Losing Soriano when you’re just about to play a huge chunk of games away from home could be much worse than you think.
Game notes
Soriano may have been the bigger national story, but for the Chicago media it was all about Ryan Dempster’s rock-solid performance on the mound.
Long starts in June translate into fresher bullpen arms in September and Dempster gave his bullpen the night off, going the distance to earn his eighth win of the season. His stuff was downright nasty as he struck out 11 batters, walked zero and gave up just two earned runs off four hits.
Not to be outdone, Kosuke Fukudome went 1-for-2 with two walks and a three-run home run. Ryan Theriot and Jim Edmonds chipped in two RBI apiece to complete the Cubs’ scoring.
