When Milton Bradley was jawing with a jeering fan in Milwaukee earlier this year, he answered with a home run and credited the fan for giving him the “spark” he needed.
“You need life,” Bradley said. “I can’t play all dull and stuff. When you come on the road, you expect to be razzed.”
History repeated itself Wednesday night in San Diego, where Bradley made some hand gestures to a heckling fan after hitting a home run. Bradley wouldn’t talk after the game, though manager Lou Piniella referred to it as a “Muppet conversation” because Bradley was suggesting the fan was yapping by opening and closing his hand like a hand puppet.
Does Piniella care if Bradley lets fans bother him, or does he want his right fielder to ignore fans who are heckling him?
“Yeah, you would prefer that they would [ignore them],” Piniella said. “You can have a little fun with it once in a while, but you would prefer they concentrate on the game at hand.”
Piniella said he had discussions with jeering fans “on rare occasions” when he was a player but added it never got ugly. Wednesday’s incident was more comical than angry.
“I had fun with it,” Piniella said. “The guy, he got on [Bradley] a little bit, and [Bradley] was having fun more than anything else.”
Catch-22: Geovany Soto sat for the second straight game Thursday night but will start Friday against left-hander Randy Wolf.
“When [Koyie] Hill was catching, we were winning a little more consistently,” Piniella said. “With Soto, we need for him to start swinging the bat.”
Marmol watch: The Cubs hadn’t tested Carlos Marmol in his new role as closer and don’t know if the late-inning collapses will be a staple of the season or a problem that has been resolved.
“You look at our situation last year — we won easier and lost hard,” Piniella said. “This year we’ve lost easier and won harder. And we’ve lost a lot of just breathtaking games, where you have ’em won, and all of a sudden, you’ve lost them. That takes the steam out of you a little bit.”
Piniella joked Marmol was “undisputed and undefeated” since taking over as closer. Of course, he hadn’t pitched yet.
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Big number
13: After leading the NL with 36 homers in July, the Cubs were second-worst with 13 in August entering Thursday.
