Life for the Chicago Cubs without Alfonso Soriano is well underway, and so far the results have been surprisingly positive. Ted Lilly gave up one hit in six scoreless innings, Derrek Lee drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games with a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Soriano broke a bone in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch from Atlanta’s Jeff Bennett on Wednesday and is expected to miss at least six weeks. That was supposed to leave the Cubs with a gaping hole in their lineup, but so far that hasn’t happened. Chicago has won two of three since Soriano’s departure and averaged five runs per contest against a Toronto team whose starting staff entered Sunday’s game ranked third in the major leagues with a 3.61 ERA. “We’ve got a good enough team to get by,” third baseman Aramis Ramirez said. “We’re playing great. I thought we should have won all three games here but we left a lot of guys on base during the first game. We can get by without Soriano.” Ramirez added his 10th homer of the season for the Cubs, who haven’t lost a series since May 25 at Pittsburgh. Much of that success has to do with Lilly, who won for the sixth time in seven decisions dating to May 3 and has a 3.81 ERA over that span. “I think he has been improving as the season goes on,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “I think the pop on his fastball is better. He has got a little more sharpness on his curveba ...
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Life for the Chicago Cubs without Alfonso Soriano is well underway, and so far the results have been surprisingly positive. Ted Lilly gave up one hit in six scoreless innings, Derrek Lee drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs won for the sixth time in seven games with a 7-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Soriano broke a bone in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch from Atlanta’s Jeff Bennett on Wednesday and is expected to miss at least six weeks. That was supposed to leave the Cubs with a gaping hole in their lineup, but so far that hasn’t happened. Chicago has won two of three since Soriano’s departure and averaged five runs per contest against a Toronto team whose starting staff entered Sunday’s game ranked third in the major leagues with a 3.61 ERA. “We’ve got a good enough team to get by,” third baseman Aramis Ramirez said. “We’re playing great. I thought we should have won all three games here but we left a lot of guys on base during the first game. We can get by without Soriano.” Ramirez added his 10th homer of the season for the Cubs, who haven’t lost a series since May 25 at Pittsburgh. Much of that success has to do with Lilly, who won for the sixth time in seven decisions dating to May 3 and has a 3.81 ERA over that span. “I think he has been improving as the season goes on,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “I think the pop on his fastball is better. He has got a little more sharpness on his curveba ...