If any Chicago Cubs baseball fan hasn’t seen, center fielder Reed Johnson’s spectacular catch in Friday’s game against the Washington Nationals, it’s definitely a site to behold. Johnson, a spring training pickup from the waiver wire, appears to have shored up the hole in the Cubs’ center field - both defensively and with his bat.
”Best play I’ve ever seen in person. Maybe the best play ever,” Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot said.
Johnson is batting .308 through 19 games and has an OBP of .395. Whatever Reed has done thus far at the plate will likely be overshadowed by this sensational catch.
While cliche in its usage of describing any period of time, there’s perhaps no more apropos phrase to summarize Chicago Cubs history than simply to say, “What a 
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.
But we all know where the road paved with the best of intentions leads. And if the Chicago Cub brain trust doesn’t know, they’re finding out quickly, barely one year and two weeks into Soriano’s multiyear contract.
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This One’s on Lou
Out like a lion, in like a lamb. As Jekyll and Hyde as the weather has been it has nothing on Chicago Cubs baseball.
Kerry Wood, the Cubs designated closer, was the culprit yet again, allowing all three Brewer runs on three hits, a hit batter and an intentional walk. It was Wood’s third blown save in seven opportunities to go along with his 2-1 record.
May Day also saw the return of Alfonso Soriano from the disabled list to the Chicago Cubs lineup. Soriano assumed his customary left field position and lead-off spot in the Cubs lineup, where he promptly went 0 for 4, dropping his season batting average to .164.
Coincidentally, it was a shot off the bat of Milwaukee’s Gabe Kapler that sailed over the head of Soriano for a double and set the stage for the ninth inning comeback. While some in attendance questioned Soriano could have caught the ball, Fonzi had his own thoughts on the play.
“I feel 100 percent with my legs and I think I have a very good jump,” Soriano said. “He hit a line drive off balance and the ball goes like one bounce to the left-field wall. I think the wind got that ball.”
Oh, yes. It was the wind. Reed Johnson can run a country mile and slam head first into a wall to track down a ball, but for Soriano Kapler’s hit can be explained away as nothing more than a wind-aided double.
For myself, Soriano’s absence did not make my heart grow fonder. Since arriving in the National League, Soriano has proven to be a five-tool player with a one-tool mindset.
Of course it helps to have a manager more apt to enable than he is to insist. Where in lies the crux of today’s loss. And probably even a few more before this.
As much as Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella knows baseball, he’s also proven to be unyielding in his decisions. Unless of course, it involves the lineup card. Then it’s best to have as much eraser as you do pencil.
The decision to make Wood the Cubs closer was settled in March. My guess is Wood will be the closer in September regardless the number of blown saves. Just like Lou stuck with last year’s closer Ryan Dempster and his ups and downs.
As for Soriano, he’s as atypical lead-off man as there is in baseball. He doesn’t take pitches, his OBP is mediocre at best and his strikeout to walk ratio is almost 4:1.
But don’t expect to see Soriano anywhere else in the Cubs lineup besides batting lead off.
”Look, Alfonso is a special talent,” Piniella said. ”Forget the other positions in the lineup. He is going to hit leadoff, and that’s the end of it. You lead him off, and then you do what you have to do second through eight.”
Lou has spoken. As for the rest of us? We’re all just April fools.