The National League Central favorite Chicago Cubs may be without one of their best hitters for "awhile."
Outfielder Alfonso Soriano caught a routine fly ball off the bat of Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. to end the first inning on Tuesday night, but during his trademark hop injured his calf and will be placed on the DL.
He will have an MRI on Wednesday, but Cubs manager Lou Piniella conceded, 'It'll probably be awhile.'
"If he's out for an extended period of time, obviously it will hurt us," he said.
The good news for Cubs fans is Soriano hasn't done much this season, hitting just .175 with two homers and five RBIs.
If Soriano has to go on the disabled list, one option for the Cubs would be to call up outfielder Matt Murton from Triple-A Iowa (he's hitting .294 in Triple-A with no extra-base hits). And Tuesday's emergency replacement, second baseman Mark DeRosa, could see a lot of the playing time in left field. That would allow Mike Fontenot to start at second (and likely lead off). The Cubs could also use Reed Johnson in left field.
Soriano missed time in April 2007 because of a sore left hamstring, injured nearly one year ago to the day on April 16, and suffered a more serious injury to his right quad last August.
Soriano, an infielder until the Washington Nationals converted him to the outfield in 2006, has done the hop since making the switch. He had trouble making catches on routine flies, so he decided to add a little hop before making the catch to help with his concentration.DeRosa, meanwhile, only played one game in left last year.
"I said in spring training, I have no problems moving around and doing what's best for the team," DeRosa said.
Chicago will need first baseman Derrek Lee to continue his torrid start.
He leads the team with a .368 batting average, five home runs and 12 RBIs. He didn't hit his fifth homer of 2007 until June 1.
Lee is 9-for-17 (.529) with two home runs and six RBIs during his four-game hit streak, and is batting .406 (13-for-32) with two homers and four doubles in his career against Wednesday's scheduled Reds starter Josh Fogg (1-1, 7.00 ERA).
The Cubs counter with Carlos Zambrano (1-1, 3.20). Big Z allowed only two runs in 13 2-3 innings in his first two starts of the season -- both at home -- but yielded five runs and nine hits in six innings of a 5-3 loss at Philadelphia on Friday.
Zambrano went 2-4 with a 5.30 ERA in six starts vs. the Reds last season, and is just 3-7 with a 4.12 ERA in 12 career starts against them at Chicago.
Chicago is a -200 money line betting favorite at WagerWeb.com for tonight's game (over/under: 12).
Reds-Cubs betting trends: Reds are 8-2 in their last 10 Wednesday games. ... Cubs are 2-6 in Zambrano's last 8 home starts. ... Under is 13-3-1 in Zambrano's last 17 starts vs. a team with a losing record. ... Over is 5-2 in the teams' last 7 meetings in Chicago.
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