So I was listening to Lou’s postgame presser after the Cubs victory over the Reds. First question was about Soriano’s first inning injury. Obviously not everything was known at the time, Lou wouldn’t speculate, and said it’s ultimately Jim Hendry’s decision anyway on whom to call up. Next Lou was asked about Dempster’s performance. He then talked about Lee and Ramirez, and how the whole team was swinging some hot bats. Typical postgame briefing.

Then I heard a whiny voice that I could have sworn was Mariotti’s.

Soriano. The guy gets hurt catching a routine flyball. Is this another “Cubbie Occurence?”

WTF? Lou already talked about Soriano. Why would you ask that? What journalistic purpose are you serving? Things not asked about at this juncture were: Michael Wuertz’ sudden inability to get anybody out, whether or not Lou will continue to stick with a struggling Pie, how prepared was Lou to bring in Sean Marshall when it was still a 2-run game in the 7th inning. There were plenty of topics that would have merited an intelligent, thoughtful question. Instead, we get some hack reverting back to Soriano’s injury, but this time framing it in the nonsensical context of a curse.

Friend of HJE Fro Dog, over in the Shoutbox here, heard the same press conference and thought it was Bruce Levine. That would personally disappoint me, as it seemed soooo right up Mariotti’s alley (I could see it now. Soriano’s injury happened in the first, so Jay gleefully writes his entire story right then and there and then proceeds to spend the next 8 innings at the buffet, rubbing lasagna over his chest). In any event, whether it’s Mariotti, Levine, Carol Slezak, whoever… there should be a “beatdown” buzzer that goes off when some schlep asks such an idiotic and irrelevant question.

Some other observations…

…Seeing Dusty in the opposing dugout didn’t get me as excited as I anticipated. However, seeing Corey Patterson and Paul Bako in the opponent’s lineup did.

…Seriously–what the hell’s up with Michael Wuertz? I don’t want to be an alarmist, but the guy has faced 6 batters over the course of his last two outings and hasn’t gotten an out. Is he hurt or something, or just in a funk?

…All that’s keeping this rotation from being a colossal disappointment is Big Z and…Ryan Dempster? Hey, I’ll take it. Don’t know how long it’ll last but I’ll take it. Of course it does little to alleviate my nagging concern that something is wrong with Ted Lilly, though.

I’ll leave this last topic for any readers that would like to comment. By the time most people read this, it will be Wednesday morning and a decision may be announced regarding the status of Soriano. It could be that Fonzie just strained his calf, will sit out a few days, and be back in the lineup by this weekend, rendering this discussion moot. However, if Soriano goes on the DL, what do the Cubs do? The obvious move would seem to call up the red-headed stepchild. Another suggestion would be to keep DeRosa in left-field and call up Strut’s little brother to play second. PenFoe in the Shoutbox mentioned calling up some 31-year old Crash Davis-wannabe named Scales. Could the team get by with the comedic stylings of Daryl Ward in left for 2-3 weeks?

So pretend you’re Jim Hendry. Knock down a half-dozen Krispy Kremes and tell us what you would do if you were GM.