In a game that Alfonso Soriano called a “must win” (with a wink), the Cubs ended a billion game losing streak. In Spring Training. The battles:
- Mike Fontenot continued to perform significantly better than Aaron Miles. Fontenot went 2-3 with a homer and a walk. Miles, playing short and third (telling?), went 1-3.
- Micah Hoffpauir, playing a little right and first, went 2-4 with a double. The bench situation, however, gets more complicated by the day.
- The Bako also went 2-4, and Joey Gathright scored three times. Double grumble.
- Chad Gaudin started, and had something of a redeeming outing (against the Royals, mind you). Two scoreless innings, one hit, no walks, one K.
- Jeff Samardzija followed Gaudin with three innings: one earned run, two hits, and a couple of strikeouts.
Ace, have you seen any mention of how Hoffpauir has done in the outfield?
I haven’t, and I’ve been really interested to hear. The dearth of televised games so far haven’t help – the folks currently covering the games are likely less obsessive about it than we would be. It’s hard to imagine him being any worse/less mobile than Daryle Ward out there, though. He played some outfield at Iowa last year, for what it’s worth.