Perry takes fall for Cubs' offensive woes

The emotions were mixed Sunday after the Cubs fired hitting coach Gerald Perry.

On one hand, the players were sad to see Perry go after two-plus seasons.

On the other, they were happy to know that the Cubs promoted Von Joshua from their Class AAA Iowa farm club to take Perry's place.

General manager Jim Hendry flew back to Chicago early Sunday from the College World Series in Omaha to break the news to Perry.

"Obviously, we've been struggling for a long time," said Hendry, whose club's offense has languished near the bottom of several key offensive stats just one year after leading the National League in many of those categories. "I'm not one to dump all the blame on coaches. I don't believe I've made a coaching change, to my knowledge, in the middle of the year. But I think sometimes you need a different voice."

That voice belongs to Joshua, who was in his fourth year at Iowa. More important for the Cubs, he coached many of their young players in the minor leagues.

"I don't think there could be a better replacement," said shortstop Ryan Theriot, who also praised Perry as a friend. "I've said this 1,000 times - he's one of the best I've ever had. For me, personally, I'm just real excited that it's going to be Von.

"Von's worked with myself, (Mike) Fontenot, Micah Hoffpauir. Geo (Geovany Soto) had the best year of his career, two or three years ago, with Von, as well as Hoffie.

"And he knows us. He had us from puppies all the way up, when we were all struggling a bit in the minor leagues, because really, realistically, none of us were surefire prospects, can't-miss guys for the big leagues."

Joshua, a former big-league outfielder, was the White Sox' hitting coach from 1998-2001.

Perry came to the Cubs with manager Lou Piniella before the 2007 season, and he worked for Piniella in Seattle from 2000-02. He also was a hitting coach in Pittsburgh and Oakland.

"I talked to Gerald after I walked upstairs with him," Piniella said. "Look, it's tough on me because I've been with Gerald for a long time, six years. This was an organizational decision.

"Gerald and I were together at Seattle, and we were together here at Chicago. And we had success together. I thank him for all the hard work that he's put in on my staffs."