Cubs 3-1 loss gives Cardinals sweep; Piniella may move Soriano to second
Alfonso Soriano hasn't started a game at second base since Oct. 1, 2005.
But since it feels at least that long since the Cubs put together a decent offensive effort, manager Lou Piniella threw out the possibility of a Soriano move prior to Thursday's game at St. Louis.
If Soriano shifts back to second, then Piniella envisions a chance for Micah Hoffpauir's solid lefty bat to play in left field.
"Hopefully it doesn't get to that," Piniella told reporters. "But that, again, is a measure of last resort. We'll explore all our other options."
Considering the Cubs (21-18) suffered through a 3-1 loss Thursday night to run their losing streak to four, the Soriano Shuffle could be dancing past the other options as Piniella prepares his team for a weekend set at San Diego.
"I want to get Hoffpauir in the lineup," Piniella said of the half-timer who leads the Cubs in slugging percentage (.557). "I want to give everybody a really, really good opportunity to start swinging the bats the way they're capable."
The Cubs enter the Padres series with a .248 batting average, good for 13th in the National League.
They managed just 4 singles, 1 double and 1 walk against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (4-2), who went 82/3 innings before stepping aside for Ryan Franklin to pick up his second save in as many nights.
The Cubs finished with 2 runs and 18 baserunners in 27 innings against the Cardinals (24-17). Pinch hitter Bobby Scales, who led off the sixth with a walk and scored on Kosuke Fukudome's three-hop chop up the middle, was the only guy to get past second base Thursday.
Sean Marshall (2-3) wasn't bad in defeat as he gave up 2 earned runs in 5 innings, but Albert Pujols seized the game's momentum in the first inning.
Pujols sized up a 1-1 cutter and bludgeoned a liner off the third-deck façade - knocking out the yellow "I" light of the "BIG MAC Land" sign in left field.
Journeyman infielder Brian Barden added a solo shot in the fourth that just cleared the left-field wall. The 28-year-old boasts 4 career homers - 3 of them coming against the Cubs this year.
Lindsey Willhite's game tracker
Why walk-averse? The Cubs drew 4 walks in their three losses at Busch Stadium II. One of the walkers scored (Bobby Scales on Thursday) and two of the others reached third. Not bad when just four Cubs reached third all series. Just sayin'.
Power outage: Mike Fontenot hit a double Tuesday. Ryan Theriot and Milton Bradley added doubles Wednesday. Geovany Soto knocked a double Thursday that should've been caught at the wall. That was the extent of the extra-base hits in the sweep. Not good.
Phat Albert: Since hitting the bigs in 2001, Albert Pujols has played nearly a full season (138 games) against the Cubs. Pujols bashed his 39th career homer - more than he has vs. any other team - in the first inning. He also owns a .290 lifetime average and 104 RBI.