Manager Lou Piniella wanted to make it very clear Wednesday that he wants some more left-handed pop.
"I've said many times that we'd like to find some power from the left side," Piniella said. "It doesn't mean I'm not happy with what we have, which I am. But I think as we speak, we've got all of five home runs from our left-hand hitters here. Over the course of the year, we'd like to increase that." Piniella pointed out that the Cubs actually have a total of seven homers from left-handed batters this year. One came from pitcher Carlos Zambrano, and one came from center fielder Felix Pie, who is now in the minor leagues.
The seven homers by left-handed hitters place the Cubs 29th in major league baseball, ahead of only Milwaukee.
The Cubs are getting good on-base percentage from Kosuke Fukudome, but he has only two homers. Jim Edmonds has not hit in his short time with the Cubs, who entered Wednesday fourth in the NL in homers with 56.
CUBS 2, DODGERS 1 (10 innings): Alfonso Soriano's 10th-inning single drove in Mike Fontenot with the winning run. Fontenot, a pinch hitter, doubled with one out. Carlos Zambrano, who threw 130 pitches over eight innings, walked home a run in the fourth. The Cubs tied the game in the ninth after loading the bases. Geovany Soto's sacrifice fly scored Ryan Theriot, who opened the inning with a walk.
