03-14-2009, 11:58 PM
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->With Mike Fontenot being named the regular second baseman Saturday, the Cubs' lineup is beginning to take shape with left-handed batters spread throughout.
Fontenot is the projected sixth hitter, with Kosuke Fukudome in second and Milton Bradley fourth.
"I don't want to get caught with two left-handed hitters sixth and seventh or sixth and eighth at the tail end of the lineup," manager Lou Piniella said. "So 2-4-6 is a real nice way to break things up."
In his fifth year with the Cubs after being traded from Baltimore in the Sammy Sosa deal, Fontenot never has been penciled in as a starter.
"I'm out here to just get on the field as much as possible, but with [Lou] saying that, it makes you feel good," he said. "But you have to keep coming out here every day and putting up numbers. You know how Lou is: He's going to play the hot hand."
Aaron Miles becomes the backup against left-handed pitchers and also will fill in at shortstop and third, with Piniella saying both would get about 350 at-bats.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Fontenot is the projected sixth hitter, with Kosuke Fukudome in second and Milton Bradley fourth.
"I don't want to get caught with two left-handed hitters sixth and seventh or sixth and eighth at the tail end of the lineup," manager Lou Piniella said. "So 2-4-6 is a real nice way to break things up."
In his fifth year with the Cubs after being traded from Baltimore in the Sammy Sosa deal, Fontenot never has been penciled in as a starter.
"I'm out here to just get on the field as much as possible, but with [Lou] saying that, it makes you feel good," he said. "But you have to keep coming out here every day and putting up numbers. You know how Lou is: He's going to play the hot hand."
Aaron Miles becomes the backup against left-handed pitchers and also will fill in at shortstop and third, with Piniella saying both would get about 350 at-bats.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->