Alfonso Soriano
has been booed many times at Wrigley Field but maybe never as strongly as Saturday night when seemingly every one of 40,766 in attendance seemed to voice their displeasure.
With runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth inning against the Red Sox, Soriano hit a line drive to third baseman
Will Middlebrooks.
Soriano put his head down and didn’t run to first base so even though Middlebrooks dropped the ball, Soriano was an easy out.
But the Cubs had an entirely different take and strongly backed Soriano.
“It’s one of those things where 100 percent of every player in the history of baseball would do the same thing,” manager
Dale Sveum
said.
“(The booing) is not fair because I hit a line drive to his glove,” Soriano said. “I’m happy my teammates, manager and coaches support me because they know that I’m working hard to be a better player and a better teammate. It’s not fair.”
Sori Part II:
Parts of the Wrigley Field outfield look like a war zone thanks to last weekend’s concerts, and that includes spots where the right and left fielders stand.
“It looks bad, but it’s not so bad for me because I never catch a ground ball at that spot,” Soriano said. “Yeah, the grass is dead (in those spots), but I always have to come in for ground balls.”
Soriano says the bare areas in left field have no real effect on his ailing left knee, but he looks forward to being a designated hitter at U.S. Cellular Field this week, possibly for all three games as was the case in Minnesota last weekend.
“Those three games really helped,” Soriano said. “My knee was only about 80 percent but I think it’s 90 percent now.
“But it’s a little different at the (Cell). The only batting cage is behind the White Sox dugout.”
Soriano won’t be able to use it during a game.
Soriano is a .379 hitter with six homers in 19 games as a DH.
Last things first:
If
Carlos Marmol
can handle his new/old role of closer, it would stabilize and solidify the earlier bullpen setup. That’s why manager
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Dale Sveum
let him return.
“It’s huge, a guy who has done it before,” Sveum said. “If you can get him on track and throwing strikes, that’s all you want. You don’t want to put some guys in where their stuff doesn’t play to those situations. Their roles should be sixth-, seventh-, eighth-inning guys.
“Hopefully Marmol can save these games and you have
(James) Russell, (Shawn) Camp, (Randy) Wells,
whatever the matchups might be, to (fill the other spots).”
Demp doings:
The Red Sox are among the teams rumored to be interested in Cubs starter
Ryan Dempster.
And the interest may grow after the Red Sox placed Josh Beckett on the disabled list Saturday with shoulder soreness.
Could President
Theo Epstein
pull off a big trade with his old team, despite some hard feelings and the months it took to agree on compensation for Epstein leaving Boston?
“I’m sure (we) could,” Epstein said. “I don’t know what the next six weeks will bring but we’ve already made two deals, one complicated and one pretty easy. Absolutely, we talk all the time and it makes it easier to do a deal when you have a good relationship with the other party.”
The first “trade” was the compensation for Epstein (pitcher
Chris Carpenter)
and the second was
Marlon Byrd
for
Michael Bowden.
Neither is with the big league club.
The new man:
New hitting coach
James Rowson
had several players hitting with screens surrounding them as he flipped them the ball during drills.
“Make sure they keep their swing compact,” Rowson said.
Not all the players will participate in that drill.
“We’ll individualize (drills) to help guys out,” he said.
Extra innings:
The Cubs have announced the signing of 15 players from this month’s draft class, including the 56th pick overall, high school pitcher
Paul Blackburn.
But it does not include the 43rd pick, pitcher
Pierce Johnson,
who tweeted that he was signed. . . . Third baseman
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Ian Stewart,
who is on the disabled list, will have his bothersome left wrist examined Monday at Cleveland Clinic. … Veteran catcher
Koyie Hill
cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Iowa, although he has not yet accepted the assignment.