Soriano Tops Cubs 2-0

It's a shame to see the Cubs waste a good effort by Travis Wood by some really sloppy play and the usual incompetent batting.  First off, the hitting or lack thereof.  Barry Zito averages four or five walks per start, but you wouldn't know it from the Cubs aggressive approach.  Once again, we saw the right-handers of doom play with the exception of Tony Campana and Ian Stewart.  I actually like Stewart in these situation because he will take pitches.  So will DeJesus and LaHair.  Even though they do not have good averages against lefties, they are better than the awful alternatives, especially Double Play Baker.

On the subject of these matchups, I'm getting a little tired of seeing Tony Campana play.  I know I suggested that the Cubs try him leading off for a bit, and I still think it is a defensible idea.  However, this guy is really short and he hits from a crouch, so how come he cannot take a pitch.  He cannot disrupt a game unless he reaches base and they play him now at virtually little league depth, so his only consistent chance is to try to coax more walks or wait for mistakes.  Instead he is swinging at 3-1 70 mph curveballs over his head.

The real problem Sunday, though, was Soriano.  On Saturday, I thought Garza was going to break a bat over his head when he played a popup into a double and cost Garza the game.  Alfonso was at it again Sunday.  In the fifth inning, he broke up the no-hitter by misplaying a very catchable line drive into a double.  Later in the inning, Koyie Hill dropped a throw at the plate that would have gunned down the runner, giving the Giants all the runs they needed.  Just to add some insurance though, in the eighth, Soriano nonchalanted a single to left with the runner going, looked over the ball for a second or so and then delivered it to second base, thus allowing the runner to score easily from first.

The Giants scored four runs over the weekend against Cubs pitching, three of which were the result of Soriano's incompetent play.  Earlier this year, I commented on Soriano's seemingly improved play in the outfield despite his worthlessness at the plate.  He has come back to Earth on defense.  Some of this is not just the result of not knowing how to play baseball, although that is a big factor.  His knee is obviously bothering him.

But that brings up an interesting question.  The Cubs are evidently showcasing him or hoping against hope that he will look like a major league player so they can agree to pay somebody $50MM plus to take him off their hands.  A laudable goal, but the thing is that other teams have scouts too and they have surely noticed that he can barely walk.  This dramatically limits the market to AL teams who want a right-handed DH of questionable abilities.  They better move this guy quick.  Usually, Soriano has a pretty decent start to the season and starts to tail off dramatically in June before he hits bottom in July.  This was in years when he was OK.  They are going to have to bail on this guy really soon or else put him on the DL and have his knee repaired.