Cubs Roll, Win 10th Straight at Home, But Lose Soriano

The Chicago Cubs won a big one today 7-2 over the Atlanta Braves and ran their home win streak up to 10 straight. 

The Cubs started off the scoring in the first inning with a 3-run shot by Kosuke Fukudome, and continued to roll as they built a seven-nothing lead going into the 7th inning.  Dempster also continued his wonderful season, running his record to 8-0 at Wrigley this year and giving up only four hits in the first complete game for the Cubs of 2008. 

The Cubs did hit a bad spot in the second inning, however, when Alfonso Soriano was hit on the wrist by a pitch that then ricocheted up into his face.  He subsequently left the game, and was taken to the hospital for x-rays that showed a minimal displacement fracture that will keep him sidelined for at least six weeks. 

So the Cubs will face another stretch without one of their stars and without their lead-off hitter.  Look for the Cubs to place Soriano on the disabled list tomorrow and recall Micah Hoffpauir from Triple A, since the 10 day clause is waived due to an injury.

Now that we have that recap and background, how is this going to effect the Cubs?

Well obviously the win at home is just more good news for a team that has been through 100 years of futility. They should be able to keep it going and since the Braves do carry the worst road record in Major League Baseball, the Cubs should move ahead and get the sweep.

The injury, however, will have a pretty big effect on the Cubs.  It removes one of their top power hitters and their main lead-off hitter for a significant amount of the season.

Now, the Cubs have three viable options to take over as the lead-off hitter with the injury to Soriano. That is Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and maybe Reed Johnson.  And with the necessary fielding shifts, it is possible for Fontenot and Johnson to move into the everyday line-up with Soriano sidelined.

Another thing to consider is that if Soriano comes back in exactly six weeks, the Cubs will play 39 games in that span, and only 13 of those games will be at home.  One thing is that everyone on the Cubs is killing the ball at home and that is the reason that they have the best record in the League, and so in theory his home production won't be missed too much, or at least we hope.

So let's take a look at the road numbers, where the Cubs are below .500 at 14-16, and need to create more production. Soriano's numbers on the road are below average, especially for a lead-off hitter.  He is currently hitting only .231 on the road with a .280 OBP.  Compare that with Theriot's .281 average and .369 OBP, Fontenot's .243 average and .391 OBP, or Johnson's .250 average and .341 OBP and we actually could be improving with one of these guys in the lead-off spot.

In conclusion, hopefully Soriano will make a quick a speedy recovery, because he is still a perennial all-star and a much more legitimate power threat (five road HRs to three by the others combined).  But if the rest of the team can keep up their current production and these three players can platoon at the lead-off slot as they did earlier this season, hopefully the Cubs won't see any drop off from their current winning percentage.