Soriano sorry? Not likely

This time, there will be no apology from Alfonso Soriano.

The home-run hitting, sometimes left fielder, was Absent Without Legs on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, though unlike the trouble he got into last week, this was a lack of effort in the field, not at the plate.

In Atlanta, Soriano failed to run on what he thought was a home run, and made it only to first when the ball hit the wall and was returned to the infield.

After a scolding from manager Lou Piniella, Soriano apologized to the boss and his teammates.

On Wednesday, the Cubs were tied up with the Reds at 1-1 in the seventh when Soriano took his sweet time jogging in on a bloop hit to medium left field.

Shortstop Ryan Theriot went after it with a vengeance and did all he could, but running at full speed, he still couldn't track it down while having to turn awkwardly and gauge the wind.

Nope, this was the left fielder's ball when it was hit, while it floated, and when it landed beyond the shortstop's reach, but Soriano was nowhere to be found.

"I don't know,'' Piniella said tersely, when asked if the left fielder was late getting there. "I haven't looked at the film yet.''

By now he has, and he knows the ball should have been caught, but the leadoff double led to the winning run and made a loser of Ted Lilly (12-7), who definitely deserved better than a 2-1 defeat.

"I was watching Rich (Harden) pitch (Tuesday) night, and I was talking to (Ryan) Dempster about how much fun it is to pitch in a game like that, and to win a game 1-0,'' said Lilly, who allowed only 2 hits with 7 whiffs in 7 innings. "It's tough. It's one of those games where you look back and second-guess yourself a little bit.''

Lilly needn't bother.

With the way he pitched Wednesday night, he's got no reason to apologize.

Time to sit?

Piniella was clearly displeased that Kosuke Fukudome was unable to manage more than a weak fly to center in the fourth, with runners on first and third, nobody out, and the Cubs up 1-0.

It's been eight games since Piniella threatened to bench the right fielder if he didn't start hitting, and he's only 6-for-27 (.222) since Piniella made those remarks.

Fukudome's hitting .163 (9-for-55) in August and you have to wonder if Piniella's seen enough to give the 31-year-old rookie a few days off.

High and tight

The sequence of the game followed Fukudome's pop out.

Still with first and third and one out, Geovany Soto fell behind Bronson Arroyo (11-10) 0-1 and fouled a ball off his foot, for a deep 0-2 hole. Arroyo then came in high and hard on the red-hot Soto, making him even more uncomfortable than he already was with a sore foot.

Soto hit the next pitch right to short for an easy 6-4-3 double play.

Huge effort

The player of the game was second baseman Mark DeRosa, who had 2 of only 3 Cubs hits, and made four spectacular plays in the field.

Catching up

Back when he was in the minors, Bob Brenly's parents wouldn't have known how he performed in a game until a week later - if he bothered to send a letter.

But that was 30 years ago, and today the Cubs broadcaster can watch his son, Michael, catching the Cubs' Boise (A) club, whose home games are live on boisehawks.com.

"They've got six fixed cameras and the guy runs the whole system from out of the back of a Bronco,'' Brenly said. "Just to keep the equipment dry, they put a wall-unit air conditioner in the back window.

"I keep an eye on it on the computer when I can. I was gonna talk about it on the broadcast the other night, but it was too early in the game and I didn't want people turning us off.''

Just queasy

There are some days you can't win for losing, and Thom Brennaman's got one of those today.

First, he calls the dreadful Reds against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, and then he gets the nearly-as-dreadful Bears against the Niners for Fox tonight at Soldier Field.

If he's looking for a solution, a solid case of salmonella might be the answer.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

A reminder that Buffalo Grove native Brett Lebda is offering a chance to view the Stanley Cup today from 3-5 p.m. at the Glenview Ice Center. You can also get a picture taken with the Cup for a small donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Runneth over

After Lebda gets his day with the chalice today, Chris Chelios has the Cup Friday, when he's scheduled to sing during the seventh inning at Wrigley Field.

Don't be shocked if he appears during both the Cubs and White Sox games Friday afternoon and evening with the Stanley Cup in tow.

The quote

Reds pitching coach Dick Pole, on Bengals' wideout Chad Johnson insisting he could defeat Michael Phelps: "What's Chad going to do, run next to the pool?''

Just uneasy

Charles Barkley has been asked to undergo a televised colonoscopy as part of the "Stand Up to Cancer'' special being aired by the networks Sept. 5. Sounds icky, but look at it this way: It's not as unpleasant as watching Barkley swing a golf club.

Best headline

Sportspickle.com: "Russia remains displeased with Georgia's No. 1 ranking.''

And finally-

The Denver Post's Mark Kiszla: "This 24/7, camera-clicking, name-chanting worship of (Kobe) Bryant by the local masses at the Olympics might be the strangest foreign love affair with a U.S. pop icon since the French decided Jerry Lewis was a comic genius."

brozner@dailyherald.com