Alfonson Soriano gets a night off as Colvin takes left field

CINCINNATI - Alfonso Soriano didn't start for the Cubs on Saturday night as manager Mike Quade went with Tyler Colvin in left field.

Even though Soriano entered the game leading the Cubs in home runs (21) and RBI (66), he has not had a good month since May, when he put up a hitting line of .308/.376/.626. The numbers have been bad each month after that, and for August it was .235/.259/.457.

Quade deferred to hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo but did say that Soriano's swing is "high maintenance."

"He's definitely a high-maintenance guy, just because he takes a lot of swings; he likes to go to the cage and work," Jaramillo said. "Right now we work on his mechanics parts.

"We're just trying to get him to trust himself more. Sometimes, he outthinks himself at the plate. Everybody does when you're not really trusting it.

"The bat speed is still there. When you see his bat speed slow and long, it's really because of his lower half. That's the base. When he does it right, we see that little bit of quickness come back."

The big problem for the Cubs is that Soriano turns 35 in January and there still will be four years left on his eight-year, $136 million contract. With age creeping up, expect more rest to be in the picture for Soriano going forward.

"A break here and there with off-days that I get him or off-days in the schedule can freshen a guy up," Quade said.