No winner in Cubs' three-horse race for leadoff spot

HOUSTON - Cubs manager Lou Piniella wasn't horsing around when talking about the leadoff spot in his batting order Saturday. But his analogy about second baseman Ryan Theriot was telling.

"With Theriot, he got a walk on Kentucky Derby day, and today's the Belmont," Piniella said. "I had a talk with Theriot, and I told him his job is to get on base, and working a pitcher for a walk is part of that process. Last night, he took a few more pitches, but now, as soon as he came up in a situation to drive in runs, he swung at the first pitch. One thing I can't do, I can't swing the bat for these guys. They've got to hit the ball."

Theriot finally got his walk in Saturday night's ninth inning, marking his first base on balls since May 1.

"Let's hope the next one's not the Arlington Million," Piniella said.

Piniella has tried Theriot, Marlon Byrd and Kosuke Fukudome in the leadoff spot. One thing he won't do is go back to leading off Alfonso Soriano, who helped the Cubs to two division titles as the leadoff man in 2007 and 2008. Since July of last year, Soriano has batted sixth regularly.

"Oh, my gosh," Piniella said. "We're going to keep him where he's at. We'd like Soriano to drive in some runs for us is what we'd like. Where he's at, he's in a position to do just that. It's just a question of getting him hot with the bat. He's been streaky. He's either hot, or he's cold. A little more consistency would help."

Soriano always preferred batting first. He said he'd be open to the idea of doing it again.

"I just want to be in the lineup," he said. "If he wants to try it, yeah. I just want to make the team better, to win. I've been more comfortable just because I'm healthy.

"I've batted leadoff before, so it's nothing new for me. It can be fun. But they decided it would help the team with me batting sixth and not leadoff."

Fukudome out? Lou Piniella put Tyler Colvin in right field in place of Kosuke Fukudome. Piniella stressed Colvin his not necessarily replacing Fukudome because Colvin can play all outfield spots. Fukudome seemed unfazed.

"It's not my decision; it's up to the manager," Fukudome said through is interpreter.

Stevens impresses: Reliever Jeff Stevens entered Saturday having held opposing hitters to 1-for-21 and right-handed batters to 0-for-16. Stevens credited pitching coach Larry Rothschild as well as Class AAA Iowa pitching coach Mike Mason and Cubs assistant Greg Maddux for helping him develop and refine a slider.

"When I was here the first time, it was just fastball-curveball," Stevens said. "I got a really good feel for it 2-3 weeks ago when Greg Maddux was in Las Vegas. He looked at my grip and said, 'Try this,' and I tinkered with it."