Cubs Fall to Astros, Lose Geovany Soto to Injury

Tuesday was a day of both frustration and worry for the Cubs in Houston:  frustration because they lost 3-2 in 10 to the Astros, and worry because their 2008 rookie of the year catcher Geovany Soto had to leave the game in the 6th with a sore shoulder.  Thankfully, Soto’s injury doesn’t seem serious.  Carrie Muskat says Soto had some discomfort in the shoulder in spring training and experienced a flare-up when trying to throw out Kaz Matsui on a steal attempt in the third on Tuesday, and is expected to only miss a couple of days.  Koyie Hill will start in the meantime.

But back to the game itself.  Sadly, it was the sort of contest we’ve become used to the last few years:  good pitching, not enough timely hitting.  Actually, this time, there wasn’t enough hitting period – the Cubs managed only 6 knocks on the game, and only 2 runs.  One of those runs came on Alfonso Soriano‘s second homer of the year.  That was the good news on Soriano.  The bad news was that, in his first three at-bats, he went 0-3 with 3 swinging strikeouts.  That’s a lead-off man?  Sorry, but Soriano remains too much of an all-or-nothing proposition.  He either parks one or waves feebly…and that’s not the kind of crap-shooter we need in the lead-off spot.  I’m already tired of talking about this.