An Alternate View: In Defense of Soriano

By Chris Rewers on Saturday, April 17, 2010

Cubs fans can be fickle and they love to kick a guy when he's down.

Ron Santo was subjected to the wrath of the Wrigley faithful in 1969 during his first home game after he had ripped teammate Don Young a few days earlier.

Dave Kingman went from being the toast of the town in 1979 to Dave Ding-Dong in 1980.

The great Greg Maddux was booed loudly when he returned to Wrigley Field for the first time as a member of the Atlanta Braves in 1993.

Soriano is now one of the favorite punching bag of patrons of the sometimes not-always-so Friendly Confines.

But it didn't take much for Soriano to turn the jeers to cheers during Friday's 7-2 victory over Houston.
Soriano made a nifty running catch of a Carlos Lee fly ball to save a run in the first, singled in the fifth, and drove in a run with a long double during the Cubs' six-run seventh.

"When I'm doing well, the fans love me," Soriano said. "When I'm doing badly the fans hate me. I just have to be more consistent and do my job."

And in spite of his struggles in the field and at the plate, there are some things to admire about Soriano.

To wit:

* He has not made excuses.

* He has not lashed out at the fans.

* He has the ability to carry the team on his back when he's on a hot streak at the plate.

* With the help of coach Mike Quade, he is taking extra fielding practice and making an effort to improve his defense.

* He is a good guy in the clubhouse who speaks English, Spanish, and Japanese. Since joining the Cubs, he has consistently made an effort to take younger players like Felix Pie and Esmailin Caridad under his wing.

"I think if they knew him, they wouldn't do it (boo him)," teammate Ryan Theriot said earlier this week. "This is a guy who's the ultimate professional. He's here early and stays late. He really, really works his butt off."

With five years and about $90 million left on his contract, Soriano is unlikely to be traded and the Ricketts family is unlikely to agree to eat the remainder of his deal.

For better or worse, we're stuck with Soriano. Here's hoping he straightens it out.