Well, we should hold back on our condemnation of a team not even 30 games into the season. Our low point of the 2010 season (so far) came on Tuesday, April 20, after a 4-0 loss to the New York Mets. We were four games under (5-9) and Zambrano was destined for the bullpen

Since then we have gone 8-4, sweeping Milwaukee on the road and taken 3 of 4 from Arizona at home in the process. We have scored 12 more runs than our opponents overall and 27 more runs in this 8-4 stretch. Our starters have picked up 6 of the wins and the bullpen has been responsible for none of the losses. The four losses have been by a combined 14 runs, with one outlier, the 13-5 loss to the Diamondbacks on April 29, accounting for more than half of those runs.

What is the point of all these numbers? Things are looking up.

Yes, Soriano is susceptible to striking out and his defensive style is more suited for a DH, as Stormin’ Norman Disciple has affirmed, but he is hitting .325 with 6 homeruns. We are getting excellent early season production out of the back of our rotation (Gorzelanny and Silva) and Ted Lilly has been decent as he works himself into regular season shape. Certainly the production of Marlon Byrd, Ryan Theriot, and a suddenly power-hitting (well, for him) Kosuke Fukudome are all things to toast with Old Style.

At the very least we know are good for a decent team that can pull out a win while we lounge in the bleachers. Basically, at least the Cubs are not playing like the White Sox.

• He isn’t going to run.  Not anywhere.  Not on the bases, not in the field, and probably not in the offseason.
• He is a sub-par outfielder at best, and that hop isn’t going anywhere.
• He will swing at anything the pitchers throw.  If its too close to the plate and not a curveball, there’s a good chance he’ll hit it.  If its not, swing and a miss.

Those things just are what they are.  As Cubs fans, we are going to have to deal with it.  The one thing that seems to be lost in all this, however, is Soriano’s ability to take a ton of heat from the media and fans constantly.  He’s been booed by fans and ripped apart by the media on a daily basis.  There is no loyalty, even though the man was stellar in 07 and 08, had a bad 09, and is swinging a hot bat again early this season.  One bad year and this city turned on him.  Did he lash out like Milton Bradley? No.  Did he mope like Jacque Jones? Nope.  He has been a model of patience and understanding with a city full of fans that will have treated him like crap.

Should we love Fonzy for being patient with us, even as he is being impatient at the plate?  No.  But we can’t forget how hard it is to have a spotlight on you all the time, especially with a ton of mostly unwarranted negativity.  Soriano has comported himself very professionally and deserves some credit for it.

(Note: The irony of writing this piece about loving Soriano only when he is hitting well is not lost on me.)

Well, three years later, I have come to accept that we have a mixed bag in Fonsie. Every spring he comes into camp and I wonder what he will do. This season I’ve come up with a few simple over/under lines for the perpetually infirmed outfield.

Over/Under: Games Played

Line: 130 games

Soriano is 34 years old and recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. He is, again, admirably trying to get back in shape, but let us remember that he did the same in 2008 and tore his right calf muscle by mid-April. Perhaps the same maturity that he displayed when he was dropped from the leadoff spot will rear its head again. Then, maybe, he will ease his way back into baseball shape and last the entire season.

Over/Under: Home Runs

Line: 30 homeruns

Last season he hit very well in the number six spot when considering his troubles with injuries. This season he will hit deep in the lineup again, but he is also coming back from another leg injury. He may simply not have the lower body strength to hit that threshold again, even with a basket above the ivy. Of course, this over/under is directly influenced by the first bet.

Over/Under: Stolen Bases

Line: 10

Soriano was supposed to be a factor on the base paths when he signed all those years ago. That threat never really came to fruition as injuries hampered his production. This season I think 10 stolen bases is decent expectation. He does not have the speed he once had, but he still has some base running know how.

Over/Under: On Base Percentage

Line: .326

Alfonso’s career OBP is .326, which is absolutely dreadful for a leadoff hitter. Last season that number dipped below .300 and he was demoted to sixth in the lineup. This season he is likely to hit deep in the lineup again, so will the lack of pressure manifest itself in better patience at the plate? I hope so, .326 is not asking much.

Alfonso Soriano is no longer the player the Cubs can even trick themselves into relying on. However, he is still a potentially big factor in the offense and I have to believe that if he can hit those numbers then the team could take the division and I could get Chicago Cubs tickets for the playoffs again.

Ha!  He got us.  I mean how foolish of us to think that his recovery would go smoothly:

Alfonso Soriano made his much anticipated arrival today at the end of another day of soggy workouts, and raised more than a few questions when he said his surgically repaired left knee is “maybe 80 percent or 85 percent” strength.

As he continued to speak it became apparent he meant he’s had no problems with the knee at that level of activity over the winter but won’t be sure he’s 100 percent until he tests the knee fully in fielding and base running this spring.

“Mentally I don’t feel 100 percent,” he said. “But we’ll see in how my knee is running in the field and doing some stuff I didn’t do in the Dominican.”

I guess that doesn’t sound so bad.  I mean I just figured it was a natural part of the recovery for whatever his knee surgery was after reading that Monday in the Sun-Times.  Then yesterday I was riding home from work listening to the Afternoon Saloon on ESPN radio.  Every day at 4pm they have Bruce Levine on to talk about Cubs and Sox issues.  When asked about the Soriano knee situation, he explained that insiders for the Cubs have told him that management is extremely frustrated.  Instead of rehabbing in the States, he “rehabbed” in his home country of the Dominican Republic.  The team had expectations that he would be healed by December 1 at the latest and he could start bringing the knee back to full strength.  Instead it sounds like his training regimen involved “letting it heal” far beyond the time when that was necessary.

For a guy making as much money as he makes, the Cubs need to put him on a tighter leash.  They have far too much invested in him to let him have that sort of invasive arthroscopic knee surgery and then disappear into the 3rd world for 5 months.  Whatever attempts they made to monitor him were clearly insufficient.

Is there any good news out of Mesa this year so far? With Soriano’s knee, Lilly’s injuries, and all the gaping holes in the rotation, lineup, and bullpen, it just seems like there is nothing positive to focus on.  And I don’t mean the yearly “Big Z slimmed down” crap.  We all know that’s garbage, right?

It feels good to be in first place.

Did you follow all that?  Let me fill in the blanks for you.  The shitty utility guy is Aaron Miles, and the great hitter from the minors is Jake Fox.  I mean based on that story, the logical thing to do when Miles comes back is to send down Andres Blanco or Bobby Scales, or maybe let Miles go altogether (or send him down, I’m not sure if they can do that though).  Right?  Right? Nope.

After [Tuesday's] game, Jake Fox was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room for infielder Aaron Miles.

Coming from the team that kept Hoffpauir in the minors for about 3 years too long, and still keeps him on the bench far more than he should be, this should come as no surprise.  Unfortunately the Cubs can ill-afford to play these games giving at-bats to seasoned veterans that can’t hit a grapefruit off a tee as opposed to young players that continue to tear the cover off the ball (see: Koyie Hill, Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir).

Of course none of this would matter if $39 million dollars (Lee, Bradley, and Soriano) would just start hitting.  Until then, get Fox, Hoffpauir and Hill in the goddamn lineup.

That’s not true, Norman. Think about it. Do you honestly think the Cubs care if you pay for a ticket, buy drinks and merchandise and then boo? They’ll take your money every day and let you boo. They couldn’t care less since you’ve paid them money. They’re laughing all the way to the bank. The only real way to show your displeasure is not buy tickets, not purchase any merchandise and not watch the games. That would actually hurt the Cubs in a way they might care about. I can’t stand booing as you know, but if you want to pay me $50 to come into my place of employment and heckle me and and boo me every day, I’ll gladly take your money, and your abuse.

You want to boo someone who isn’t trying, fine. I don’t like it, but it’s at least understandable. The only problem is that we really can’t tell when someone is trying or not. If Soriano jogged after a fly ball we might think he’s not trying, but then we might find out he has a sore knee and has played through it for a month and rather than be subjected to abuse, we might praise the guy for playing through pain. Simply put, as a fan we have no way of knowing what is actually going on down on the field when it comes to effort. We don’t have enough information. What we do know is that MLB players bust their ass more than the average person and in more ways than the average person just to get there and to stay at that level. That we know for a fact. We know for a fact that they all bust their ass and in reality, work harder than any of us in perfecting their craft. What happens in an individual game we don’t know why it happened and unless we know why it happened it’s kind of silly to boo, don’t you think?

You may think you’re booing someone who isn’t trying, but as I already pointed out with Soriano, we didn’t know the whole story and despite not knowing it, he’s showed little sign of it. He’s busted his ass in ways that the average person simply could not do. and you know what? He’ll get repaid for that by fans booing the next time he fucks up.

What annoys me most of all about booing isn’t that it’s ridiculing or abusing the players. It’s that I have a reasonable expectation of going to the ballpark with my family and being able to enjoy the game. i don’t ask for much. I’m not asking for anything other than the people around me to consider that I may find that behavior atrocious. Unfortunately, I no longer have the reasonable expectation that will happen. I can now reasonably expect the fans around me to be complete assholes and not care at all about me. It’s selfish. It’s rude. It’s annoying. It’s childish. And a whole lot more. Most of all, I can no longer go to a game because people feel they must pay lots of money to a team and then show their displeasure in the way that has the least amount of impact.

You may feel as though I went too far as you said in your response, but it was you who went too far. It was you who disregarded how others feel about obnoxious behavior. It was you who then justified those childish actions. It was your selfish actions that makes me think two or three times about actually going to a game. It was your actions that have made me not attend a game in Chicago in 8 years (I go elsewhere to watch the Cubs because of you). It was you who told me flat out that you didn’t care if you ruined the experience for me and others around you. You’re like the person at the movies who keeps talking. you don’t care about the people around you. I didn’t feel as though I owed you an ounce of respect at that point. You’re the one who has to look in the mirror and justify childish, obnoxious and unruly behavior. You’re the one who said Fuck You to me.

I simply pointed out how much it irritated me that someone would have no disregard for others around them.

Ok let’s take this apart piece by piece:

Point 1: The only way for baseball fans to express displeasure is to not buy tickets or merchandise and stop following their team.

Really?  You’re telling me I have to either stop being a Cubs fan or pretend to be happy when a player I paid 100s of dollars to see dogs it on the field?

Point 2: We don’t really know if someone is trying or not or whether they are just hurt.

Fair enough, but we work with the knowledge we have and if Soriano doesn’t want to let on about an injury, then he needs to be man enough to withstand the criticism when it appears he isn’t putting forth full effort.

Point 3: Baseball players bust their asses more than the average person.

Ummm, what basis is there for that?  Baseball players are just people like the rest of us, they aren’t gods.  Just like in any other profession or in school, there are some people who are gifted and don’t put forth a ton of effort but get great results.  There are also others that bust their ass and have less natural talents but succeed anyways.  Why are baseball players different?

Point 4: The fact that I, Stormin Norman, personally boo at games is “childish…selfish” and that booing is a big “fuck you to me”.  This has prevented him from attending a baseball game in Chicago in 8 years.

Wow.  First of all, I do not approve of using foul language or saying horrible things to players.  Calling someone a bum or yelling at a player to run out a pop up is acceptable, but I never said anyone should have a right to use profanity or be inappropriate.  As Ace said in his post on Bleacher Nation, we should be able to express displeasure with a modicum of decorum.  If you are afraid to go to ballgames because people might boo, maybe you should consider not leaving your mom’s basement.  I’ve got news for you: people have a right to express displeasure in appropriate ways, and I think it’s pretty clear that booing at a ball game is not all that abhorrent according to our societal standards.

As a final note, I would like to point out once again that I rarely if ever boo anyone, so it isn’t actually me personally that is ruining your experience.  By the way, be careful if you leave your basement today, I heard it might rain, and we wouldn’t want God to disrespect you so horribly by making it rain on YOUR Saturday.

• Where are Hoffpauir and Koyie Hill?  They got the start last night and it paid off, but Lou needs to go with the hot (or even lukewarm) bat at this point.  I know Soto and Lee are team leaders, but if they aren’t hitting and the team isn’t scoring runs, its time to make a change.
• Hey Milton Bradley: Shut up.  I’m not saying you’re wrong, in fact you are totally right.  Everyone knows the umps are calling a bigger strike zone for you.  They do it because they don’t like you.  You know what won’t make them like you?  Publicly bitching about the strike zone they are calling for you.
• Is it really time to hit the panic button?  Because if it is, the Cubs should consider two guys that are raking down in the minors.  Jake Fox and Josh Vitters are crushing the ball down on the farm, so why not bring one or both of them up?  I know that would mean we would have to send someone down, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
• If you didn’t see the Harden DL thing coming, you are blind or retarded.
• Someone take Neal Cotts out behind a shed and put a bullet in him.  That guy is just terrible.  I don’t care if we don’t have any lefties, I’m sure there are righties in the pen with better ERAs against lefties than Cotts.  Well I’m not completely sure, but Cotts sucks.  Send his ass down.  I wish we had another starter so we could move Marshall to the bullpen.  Jake Peavy anyone?
• Ok this is a little out there, but did anyone consider moving Soriano to 2nd base and giving Reed Johnson and Micah Hoffpauir some more ABs in the outfield?  I know Fonzy is sub-par defensively, but runs are hard to come by these days.
• Lou Piniella is a great manager.  I mean I love the guy.  I don’t agree with every decision he makes, but he is usually good at managing and motivating his players and he seems to have a pretty good understanding of the game.  That being said, this recent quote from him has got to be a joke:

Modern technology is a wonderful thing for 21st Century baseball managers, who have computerized scouting reports and stats at their fingertips at all times. But sometimes older is better, and after watching his players go back to the video room one too many times to replay poor at-bats, manager Lou Piniella is ready to put his foot down.

“We’ve talked about closing down the video [room],” Piniella said. “But what happens invariably is the pitching coach will go down there from time to time, and so will the hitting coach.

“But if we have to, we’ll close it down for the players, at least during the game. Visualization is a great tool. But at the same time, boy, visualize good things. Don’t keep putting bad pictures in your mind.”

That sort of has a Dusty Baker ring to it, doesn’t it?

• This isn’t really related to the Cubs play on the field, but have you seen the new hats the Cubs are selling?  I think these goofy hats have gone a bit too far.  Apparently it is called the “Watermelon Smoothie“.  I mean the baseball gods cannot be happy about this kind of thing, can they?
• If you would have told me Kosuke Fukudome would be the only Cub hitting over .300 on May 27, I would have laughed and asked you if you drank the acid-laced punch.  Well here we are, and lost in all this horrible horrible shitty 8-game losing streak has been Kosuke’s resurgence this season.  His home run last night wasn’t bad either.
• Is Aramis Ramirez the glue in this Cubs lineup?  I mean ever since he went down it’s like no one can seem to hit.  I’m not sure what his clubhouse presence is like, but just having him in the lineup seems to make the other players around him better.  Hurry back Rammy!

h/t: Zoner (via Awful Announcing)

I had been tipped off by the bartender that a number of Cubs players were hanging at another table in the restaurant. Between courses I decided to take a stroll through the lightly populated restaurant. Sure enough, at a large table in the back, I found Mike Fontenot, Kevin Gregg, Aaron Miles, Rich Harden and Reed Johnson seated with a few other guys (tough to remember everyone as I was waltzing past). At a smaller table next to the large one, Sean Marshall and Jeff Samardzija seemed to be banished to the weeds by the older players.

After another drink, I decided to return and let the boys know that while they would likely prefer anonymity on the road, it was my role to wish them the best over the upcoming weekend. They seemed genuinely appreciative, and in our brief exchange, it struck me that Johnson was the ringleader of the group.

As I returned to the bar to finish my drink, I noticed an older, bald gentleman enjoying a beer at the end of the bar. Sure enough, it was Mike Quade, sucking back a Bud Light, oblivious to the youngsters having dinner in the back of the restaurant. I offered Mike a re-fill, which he politely declined, and at this point I was ready to leave as the Cubs Crew had made their way into the casino.

Seems Alfonso Soriano was already seated at a blackjack table — a $10 minimum limit table, I might add — when the dinner crowd caught up to him. I took up a seat across the pit, and while watching these guys, gave back most of my previous winnings. Eventually Soriano left, and according to an informative pit boss, he took $20K in chips with him. Now, that said, he had no idea how much Soriano had bought in at the start, so it wasn’t clear if Fonzie was up or down on the night. The crowd thinned to just two guys, Shark and some other guy (don’t think this guy was a player), with Jeff playing to a large stack of green checks ($25 chips).

I guess Marshall and Samardzija are not allowed at the adults table, and have been relegated to the kids table.  It makes sense though.  Reed being the ringleader makes sense, since he seems well-liked and is known for being a good clubhouse presence.  Also I would love to have a few beers with an old baseball man like Quade.

And how much did Fonzy win?  Enough for another sweet hummer?