With Gary Scott out of the picture, the Cubs will go back to a committee at third base.
Last year, the committee was Luis Salazar, Domingo Ramos and Curtis Wilkerson. Now it will be Salazar, who turned 35 Sunday, and Jose Vizcaino.
”We use them both,” said Cubs manager Don Zimmer. ”If Luis gets a hot hand, he can do some damage. We`ll just go with both of them and see what happens.”
It`s a completely different scenario from the one Salazar envisioned a week ago, when he griped about his lack of playing time. Expect Salazar to see action against left-handed pitchers; Vizcaino is hitting only .143 (1 for 7)
against lefties and .368 (7 for 19) vs. righties. The right-handed Salazar is batting .233 with two homers and three runs batted in.
For now, at least, the Cubs appear unlikely to make a deal to fill the position. And Zimmer said the club had no plans to promote Doug Strange, who is hitting .311 with four errors in 32 games at Triple-A Iowa.
Dunston`s woes mount: Seeking a pep talk to help him out of a terrible slump, shortstop Shawon Dunston met with Zimmer Sunday afternoon.
”I get into streaks,” Dunston said. ”That`s just the way I am. There are times when I can`t seem to hit anything and times I hit everything. It`s just frustrating.”
Dunston came into Sunday night`s game batting .197, three points below the Mendoza Line, named after the former light-hitting shortstop. Dunston had one hit in his last 26 at-bats, and his on-base percentage had dipped to .237. Dunston might be a bit tired. He`s started 36 of the Cubs` 37 games and he played in the game he didn`t start. Dunston has played in more than 150 games only once in his career.
”There ain`t no way he`s going to play 162 games,” Zimmer said. ”I`ll let Vizcaino play a few games.”
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Berryhill blues: Damon Berryhill ranks 10th among National League catchers with a .983 fielding percentage. He has two errors and four passed balls in 24 games. Hector Villanueva started behind the plate Sunday night.