CINCINNATI--Hee Seop Choi's contributions have been overshadowedby those of his teammates in the last couple of days, but the Cubs'rookie first baseman is off to an impressive start.
His contribution was more obvious when he went to left-centerfield, which is his power alley, for a three-run home run Friday.Sammy Sosa made Choi a footnote in that 10-9 loss to the Reds byhitting his 500th homer.
While Choi was only 1-for-2 with an RBI on Saturday, the box scoredoesn't tell the whole story. He was responsible in large measure fora three-run third inning simply by being aggressive. He didn'thesitate on Corey Patterson's single to center, roaring around secondand sliding into third ahead of Ken Griffey Jr.'s throw. Pattersontook second on the play. After a walk to Mark Bellhorn filled thebases, Paul Bako's single scored Choi and Patterson.
You've got to play aggressive baseball,'' manager Dusty Bakersaid. You are going to have guys thrown out sometimes, but that was ahuge play by Choi. You have to create some things rather than gostation-to-station."
NO SWEAT: Pitcher Matt Clement looked fine in his side sessionSaturday. There was no recurrence of the lower-back tightness he feltWednesday, so he has been cleared to start as scheduled in the homeopener Monday against the Montreal Expos.
NEW DAY: Joe Borowski said he can't believe the difference infellow relievers Kyle Farnsworth and Juan Cruz this season. And hewasn't talking about their pitching as much as he was theirwillingness to participate in baseball discussions in the bullpen.
It's amazing from last year to this year,'' Borowski said. Theyare talking so much more in the bullpen. Last year, there wasn't toomuch conversation going on. This year, there are a lot morequestions. What did he throw to this guy?' and so on, just wanting toknow how to get guys out.''
Borowski has asked himself if veterans Mike Remlinger, MarkGuthrie and Dave Veres are the reason why Farnsworth and Cruz aremore talkative.
Is it just because you have guys who have been successful andaround for a while that they are opening up?'' he said. Whatever itis, it's good. The transformation is amazing.''
HE'LL TAKE IT: Carlos Zambrano wasn't great, but he wasn't bad,either. He allowed three runs and three hits, struck out eight andwalked two in 52/3 innings to earn the victory. The Cubs' staff has48 strikeouts in five games.
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