Chicago Cubs Baseball

Alfonso who?

It’s been five games since Chicago Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano went on the 15-day disabled list with his annual leg problems. Add another game to that total since the touted outfielder has taken an at-bat for the Cubs.

What has Chicago Cubs baseball done since Soriano’s been shelved? Since Soriano left the first inning of last Tuesday’s game with the Cincinnati Reds, the Cubs have won five out of six, moved into first place in the NL Central Division and scored an incredible 51 runs.

All that and more without the aid of their $13 million lead-off man. Amazingly enough, none of the players who’ve replaced Soriano have felt compelled to beat outfield boredom with the Wrigley hop or as I like to call it, Alfonso’s Leap of Faith.

‘That’s why I make the little jump, to make that play look a little difficult, because sometimes I might not make the play on a routine fly ball,” Soriano said.

Fortunately Soriano subs Mark DeRosa, Reed Jonhson and recent call-up Matt Murton haven’t caught the complacency bug nor fallen victim to the random acts of boredom by Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

Offensively, the Chicago Cubs have thrived with Soriano out. The Cubs have hit double-digit run production in three of the six games and scored 13 back-to-back against Pittsburgh. Their 18-hit performance today was the most since the Cubs collected 20 against St. Louis last August.

Johnson, Mike Fontenot and Eric Patterson have taken turns as Soriano’s lead-off replacement. While the trio went just a combined 4 for 27, they did match Soriano in runs scored with seven.

Perhaps the biggest recipient of the Soriano-less lineup has been Ryan Theriot. The shortstop has gone 15 for 28, scoring nine times and driving in four. Incidentally, Theriot had just one RBI before last Tuesday.

So are the Cubs a better team without Soriano in the lineup? Probably not.

But they certainly are more versatile without him. And as the saying goes, it’s hard to argue with success.