Soto's offense coming around

If catcher Geovany Soto isn't all the way back, he's getting there.

Soto's hot September continued in Saturday's 7-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and 3 RBI.

For the month, the reigning Rookie of the Year is 7-for-16 with 5 doubles, a homer and 9 RBI. He started his second game in a row Saturday and may be winning his old job back.

"I feel good," said Soto, whose batting average is .225. "The hits have been coming. I'm happy for it, but still, like I say, I've got a lot of work to do. We've got a lot of work to do. We're trying to play hard this last stretch and see what happens.

"I've been feeling good. Now, it's starting to fall. I've been driving in a couple of runs here and there. I'll trade it for a win."

Game ball: Jeff Stevens says he has the game ball and the lineup card from Friday's game, in which he recorded his first major-league victory.

"I'm going to erase Jonny Gomes' name from the lineup card," Stevens said.

Stevens gave up a game-tying, 3-run homer to Gomes in the fifth inning. Asked what he'd do with the ball, Stevens wasn't sure.

"I don't have a house yet, so I don't have a mantel to put it on," he said.

Big House battle: With Michigan and Notre Dame playing each other in football Saturday, the Cubs had a divided clubhouse.

Pitcher Jeff Samardzija was a receiver for Notre Dame before turning to baseball full time. Reliever Aaron Heilman also went to Notre Dame. Jake Fox and Bobby Scales are Michigan men.

"I think I'm too close to Fox, regardless of whether we're playing Michigan or not," said Samardzija, whose locker is near that of Fox.

Minor matters: Class AA Tennessee evened its Southern League playoff series with Huntsville on Friday night with a 3-1 victory. Pitcher Casey Coleman worked 72/3 innings for the win, giving up 4 hits and 1 run.

It was Coleman's 15th victory overall this season, making him a leading candidate to be the Cubs' minor-league pitcher of the year.

"I can't tell you that since I've been in the organization that we've had somebody out of the previous year's draft go directly to Double-A, and he won his 15th ballgame last night," farm director Oneri Fleita said.

"What's most impressive last night is that of the 23 outs recorded, 14 were on the ground. At one point he had a stretch of 19 consecutive batters that made out."