26-year old catcher Geovany Soto busted onto the scene with the Cubs last season as he played in 141 games and went 141 for 494 (.285 avg, .868 OPS) with 66 runs scored, 23 homers and 86 RBIs. This season though he appeared lost and some of that was because of injuries but not nearly all of it. Soto has played in 95 games for the Cubs this season and he is 68 for 307 (.221 avg, .716 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 11 homers and 43 RBIs. The fact that Soto has lost playing time to Koyie Hill shows how far he has fallen in the eyes of the Cubs’ front office.

The Chicago Cubs bats did not show up today as they lost to the Chicago White Sox 5-0 at Wrigley Field Thursday.  The White Sox gained bragging rights this year as they won the season series 4-2. White Sox rookie pitcher Carlos Torres gained his first major league win by going seven strong innings while giving up five hits, with six strikeouts, and no walks.  Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster matched Torres’ performance by going 7+ innings with seven strikeouts and no earned runs but he had no help from the Cubs defense, as they recorded two errors and Dempster had three unearned runs.

Rookie Jake Fox was filling in for Derrek Lee at first base, who missed today’s game for the birth of his new baby boy.  In the second inning Fox flat out missed a pick off attempt to first by Dempster, which moved Chris Getz into scoring position, who then scored on a Ramirez single.  Alfonso Soriano’s error in the 8^th cost the Cubs a run as well.  Soriano turned an everyday fly ball from Pierzynski into a three base error allowing Gordon Beckham to score from first.  Wrigley fans began to boo Soriano who’s excuse was that he slipped on the play, but manager Lou Pinellia thought he just misplayed the ball.  Soriano continues to make excuses for his poor play and needs to go back to the fundamentals, learn how to judge a fly ball, and stop doing that dumb little hop before he catches fly balls.

It was not a good day for Soriano at the dish either, as he went 0-4 with three strikeouts.  It seems as if Cubs fans are growing sick of Soriano and his inconsistent play as he was booed on more than one occasion today.  Fox faired better at the plate, as he had a team leading two hits today, but was easily gunned down in the 7^th by White Sox right fielder DeWayne Wise when he attempted to score from second on a Jeff Baker single.

The Cubs are now 10.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals in the central and are six games back of the Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies.  It looks like baseball in Chicago will not be played in October this year with both the Cubs and White Sox playing awful baseball the past month.

32-year old outfielder Kosuke Fukudome was supposed to provide power for the Cubs when he came over from Japan….but he hasn’t. Fukudome has played in 68 games for the Cubs this season and he is 59 for 228 (.259 avg, .805 OPS) with 34 runs scored, 6 homers, 24 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Look for Fukudome to start losing playing time to Reed Johnson who is about to come off of the D.L.

28-year old lefty swinging Mike Fontenot won the starting 2B job for the Cubs this spring but he doesn’t look like he wants to keep it. Fontenot has played in 71 games for the Cubs this season and he is 50 for 222 (.225 avg, .666 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 6 homers and 27 RBIs. The recent addition of Jeff Baker makes it very important that Fontenot get things going with his bat or he’s going to start sitting.

Milton Bradley is a team cancer and now he has even pissed off his manager. You had to wonder how long it would take before Lou Piniella and Bradley had it out and it happened it a big way recently. The Cubs amazingly gave Bradley a three year deal after he played in 126 games for the Rangers last season in which he was 133 for 414 (.321 avg, .999 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 22 homers and 77 RBIs. Bradley was mostly a DH last season which was part of the reason he played in so many games last year. He’s been a injury prone player when forced to play in the field and that was another reason the Cubs should have signed someone else to play the outfield. Bradley has played in 60 games for the Cubs this season and he is 44 for 182 (.242 avg, .734 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 5 homers and 17 RBIs. The Cubs would have been better off to keep Mark DeRosa or sign Adam Dunn who is actually being paid a little less than Bradley and his contract was one year shorter. DeRosa is now on the enemy St. Louis Cardinals and that’s a bad thing for the Cubs. DeRosa has played in 76 games this season and he is 75 for 287 (.261 avg) with 47 runs scored, 13 homers and 50 RBIs. His versatility has been missed by the Cubs. Adam Dunn has been very good for the Nationals this season. He has played in 76 games for the Nationals this season and he is 69 for 265 (.260 avg, .924 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 20 homers and 56 RBIs. The Cubs should have stayed away from Bradley because he’s a poison to team chemistry and he’s injury prone. The Cubs are stuck with Bradley because he’s virtually untradeable because of disposition.