With his two bombs off Daniel McCutchen, Lee hit a home run against the same pitcher twice in one game for the first time in four years. The last time? July 18, 2005, against the Reds’ Brandon Claussen.

It’s kind of surprising the amount of time that’s elapsed since Lee last accomplished the feat. So I checked his home run log. For a power hitter, Lee rarely records a multi-home run game. Since that game against Claussen, Lee only has seven games in which he hit more than one home run. In fact, in 2007 and 2008, Lee didn’t have a single multi-homer games. Not once in that span — or in his career for that matter — did he go deep more than twice in one game.

According to baseball-reference.com, one of the most comparable players to Lee is his cross-town counterpart, Paul Konerko. Since 2005, Konerko has posted 13 multi-homer games, including that three-blast game earlier this season. He’s also hit two home runs in a game off the same pitcher five times in that span. Just something to digest.

What isn’t surprising are the teams in which Lee hit multiple home runs off the same pitcher. In his career, Lee has had great success off Reds and Pirates pitching. Against the Reds, Lee is .284/.360/.544 with 31 home runs, the most home runs he’s hit off any team, and against the Pirates he’s .301/.375/.526 with 22 home runs.

For as bad as Geovany Soto has been in 2009, the recent declaration by Lou Piniella to virtually hand over the reigns to Koyie Hill for the rest of 2009 is an odd move. Considering how patient Piniella has been with Alfonso Soriano, his short leash with Soto throughout the season seems a bit drastic in comparison.

The proverbial sophomore slump seems to be hanging over Soto’s head, and it may have more value than just being a jinx, especially in baseball. More experienced hitters and pitchers can adjust to tendencies and exploit weaknesses of young ballplayers. But even Soto’s teammates have said that his approach hasn’t changed and he seems to be hitting the ball relatively well. If there’s such a thing as “hard outs,” Soto seems to be making plenty of them. Statistical evidence actually backs up this claim.

Fangraphs published a story a few days ago that documented Soto’s flyball and line drive numbers. His flyballs are right on track, he’s just not getting the power he did in 2008. Additionally, he’s actually swinging at better pitches. Here’s the chart and Fangraphs explanation.

(Blue is fly balls)

Uh-huh. No major changes, really. He’s hitting just a few more fly balls, but less are leaving the yard – down to 10.2% compared to 14.7% last year. That says something about why his power production is down, but it doesn’t explain why his batting average is hanging around the Mendoza line. Consider also his plate discipline numbers. Soto’s walks are up and his strikeouts are slightly down. He’s swinging at fewer pitches out of the zone – 20.1% last year, down to 18.1% this season – and he is making more contact when he does swing –74.7% last year, 77.4% this year. So he’s being more selective and making more contact when he does pull the trigger. It’s just as if he is almost always hitting the ball right at someone.

Not only that, Fangraphs figured out that Soto’s BABIP should be .314 instead of .245. So other than a loss of power, which could be credited to his extra weight, Soto has actually been very unlucky. The unfortunate consequence has been a batting line of .212/.318/.331.

Hill’s batting line isn’t much better. At .240/.323/.341, he’s only slightly better than Soto. But while Soto struggled in August, Hill posted an OPS of .846. Also, inexplicably, the Cubs are considerably better when Soto is on the bench. The Cubs are 35-23 when Hill gets the nod to start behind the plate. But there’s little to suggest why this would be the case. The Cubs pitching staff is only slightly worse when Soto pitches versus Hill. Their slash lines are comparable (Soto .255/.331/.410; Hill .237/.321/.378) and in some cases, Soto yields better results (Soto 2.12 SO/BB; Hill 2.02). In fact, the difference, again, comes down to luck. The BABIP when Soto catches is 7 points higher than average, while 11 points better than average when Hill catches. And, once again, home runs hurt Soto. The inflated slugging percentage compared to Hill is caused in large part by the 31 more home runs pitchers have allowed when Soto catches.

So, Soto’s struggles and the team’s struggles when he catches are caused by luck and the long ball. Maybe the sophomore slump is more of a jinx after all.

• Gordon Beckham: .452 (14-for-31) / 2 HR / 6 RBI (8 G)
• Ramon Castro: .250 (1-for-4) / 0 HR / 1 RBI (3 G)
• Jermaine Dye: .208 (52-for-250) / 8 HR / 29 RBI (67 G)
• Josh Fields: .294 (10-for-34) / 2 HR / 4 RBI (12 G)
• Chris Getz: .250 (4-for-16) / 0 HR / 2 RBI (5 G)
• Paul Konerko: .251 (82-for-327) / 15 HR / 35 RBI (90 G)
• Mark Kotsay: .200 (10-for-50) / 0 HR / 8 RBI (12 G)
• Jayson Nix: .400 (6-for-15) / 1 HR/ 1 RBI (5 G)
• A.J. Pierzynski: .301 (251-for-833) / 13 HR / 104 RBI (258 G)
• Scott Podsednik: .318 (34-for-107) / 1 HR / 14 RBI (27 G)
• Carlos Quentin: .205 (8-for-39) / 3 HR / 7 RBI (10 G)
• Alexei Ramirez: .339 (19-for-56) / 2 HR / 5 RBI (15 G)
• Alex Rios: .247 (24-for-97) / 2 HR / 7 RBI (22 G)
• Dewayne Wise: .074 (2-for-27) / 0 HR / 1 RBI (11 G)

Steve Contorno writes: Any team that spends $100 million on salary is expecting large returns for their investments. So when things have gone so horribly wrong to the point that you can start planning your October vacations before August is over, someone has explaining to do. Chicago has two of these teams. Granted, the White Sox added $17 million of that payroll in the last few weeks, but no doubt Kenny made the move hoping the Sox would be competitive in 2009. They’ve been anything but competitive, winning two of their last 12 in ways that would make the Nationals blush. Speaking of which, the Cubs recently dropped two of three games to the Nationals, the worst team in baseball, just a week after losing two of three to the Padres, the worst team ever assembled. For what the expectations were coming into this season, it’s hard to argue that the Sox have been worse than the Cubs. So I won’t even try.

The saddest thing about the Cubs is that if they had any timely hitting, they could be one of the better teams in baseball. Their pitching staff, even with injuries, has been incredible. At this point in the season, it’s hard to blame a rotation that once led the majors in quality starts, despite spotty performance of late. Without run support, at some point pitchers try to do everything and this rotation has to be mentally and physically drained. The Cubs are batting just .243 with runners in scoring position which has resulted in 4.42 runs per game. When added, the win probability of all their hitters is a combined -6.99! The Cubs hitters are more likely to hurt their team, drastically, than help them. It’s absolutely pathetic. The only thing that makes this close is that even if the Cubs were five games better, they would still be five games out of the division. The Cardinals have been so good, I’m not sure the Cubs ever had a chance, even if they didn’t forfeit games before playing. But the lack of fundamentals, the lethargic offense, and the propensity to lose games they shouldn’t gives the Cubs the edge in this debate.

David Just writes: Any unsuccessful team has timely hitting problems. To me, that along with poor pitching are the fundamentals of bad baseball. The White Sox have certainly had their struggles with timely hitting, particularly in the last month or so. In the 27 games prior to last night’s heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Minnesota, the Sox hit .231 with RISP — a mind-numbing statistic.

Still, though, I don’t think there’s much of an argument here. The White Sox have officially punted their season away by trading Jim Thome and Jose Contreras to playoff contenders. That’s not to say Thome and Contreras were adding anything to this White Sox club, but Kenny Williams isn’t making that trade if he thinks his team is a competitor. Had the Cubs traded Rich Harden to the Twins as was long speculated this past weekend, then I might see things differently.

The White Sox have a -12 run differential compared the Cubs’ +22. The sad thing is that the Tigers only have a +15 RD, and it just wouldn’t have taken that much to overcome them in the AL Central. But even before this disastrous road trip, the White Sox were playing like a team not interested in the postseason. The trip merely put the wrapping paper and bow on that fact.

And that’s the thing about all this: Like Steve said, the Cubs may not have won the NL Central even if they were playing like the team they could be. The White Sox, on the other hand, were two games back in very recent memory, despite being a .500 team. The 2009 White Sox are going to finish half a dozen games below .500 in third place and nobody will remember that they were ever seriously in the race.

NEWS AND NOTES – Cubs

The Cubs were unable to reach a deal last night to trade Rich Harden to the Twins after Minnesota claimed him off waivers. Apparently the Cubs were asking for too much and Hendry never even considered trading Harden, who was acquired last year from the A’s and will be a free agent following the season.

“It was the biggest non-story of that big of magnitude,” Hendry said. “We always run everyone through what we call ‘trade waivers.’ Everyone in Major League Baseball usually runs their whole team through in August. We had 12 people claimed over the course of the month, and for whatever reason, two names (Harden and Aaron Heilman) were made public.

“It’s not something I would ever discuss- possible trades, or were we close, or names here or there. But I can tell you, we never really gave it any substantive thought, because we certainly would never give up unless we were out of it. If we were 15 back, obviously you might have looked at things a little differently with other people who were never mentioned in the press.”

The Trib’s Sullivan hinted the lack-of move was to keep the roster in tact for a wild-card run. Lou said the Cubs are still playing for October.

“We’re going to go after it,” manager Lou Piniella said Monday. “We have Harden in our rotation. If our relievers get hot, we can put a little winning streak together. There’s still time, so we’ll see what happens.”

The odds of the Cubs winning the wild card are twice as good of them winning the division. Instead of a .88 percent chance of catching the Cards, the Cubs have a 1.69 percent chance of taking the wild card. Those decimals are in the right place.

In that case, it was dumb for the Cubs to not trade Harden, right? Wrong.

Harden has been the Cubs best starter of the second half. He still struggles to go longer than six innings, but he’s definitely a top tier starter. So much so, that he’s currently classed as a Type A free agent, meaning as long as the Cubs offer Harden arbitration, the Cubs are guaranteed two draft picks if he turns it down and signs elsewhere. That includes the top pick of whoever signs him. Of course, he could accept the arbitration offer and the Cubs would have him for 2010.

Either option is fine by me. Having Harden next season is worth more than whatever the Twins were offering, and losing him is just as attractive of an option.

Really?

First, I would argue the players pulled the plug by deciding not to win any games.  They’re 1-8 on their road trip so far, and things don’t look to get any better with two more in the Metrodome.

But that aside:  will the loss of Thome and Contreras really affect the team that much?  Raise  your hand if you’re going to miss Contreras at all.  That’s what I thought.  The “pitcher” was consistently abysmal the last few months – and every start he somehow seemed to get worse.

As for Thome: the team isn’t worse without him.  He was an extra bat, sure, but he wasn’t playing every day and his departure lets the team replace either Jermaine Dye or Paul Konero – the obvious choices for replacement DH – with better fielding players like Marc Kotsay and Alex Rios.  (Neither of whom are slouches at the plate.)

My reaction to the trade wasn’t shock or disappointment – I started to giggle.  “Really?  There’s a team out there that gave up a prospect to land Jose Contreras?”  “Uh, Thome’s going to the National League?  Good luck in the field, buddy.”  These pieces once fit snugly in the White Sox puzzle.  Now they’re superfluous.  They’ll be missed less than you can imagine.  Now if only the team could win a game…

Storied designated hitter Jim Thome agreed to a trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thome, 39, who has 564 lifetime home runs, and cash were sent to L.A. for Class A infielder Justin Fuller. Jose Contreras and cash were also sent to the Rockies for Triple-A righty Brandon Hynick.

The trades were was announced about an hour after the Sox lost 4-1 to the Twins, their eighth setback in the last nine games. Shortly after the game, Thome declined to comment through a team spokesman while talking briefly to teammates.

This is probably a win-win trade. Neither of these guys could help the Sox, and it’s unlikely these prospects will ever develop into anything significant. So, nothing for nothing. I like it!

“That’s not a very exciting group at all,” one veteran scout told Rosenthal on Monday night.

You ain’t kidding.

What exactly does Kenny Williams expect to get for these guys who aren’t productive on a sub-.500 team?

It’s funny that, as Rosenthal notes, the White Sox were big-time buyers the last four weeks. And now, at the tail end of the road trip from hell, the White Sox are selling off all their waste.

Will anyone bite?

The team has distributed a memo to a number of teams in the league informing them that a number of Chicago veterans are available in trade. Names on that list include designated hitter Jim Thome, outfielder Jermaine Dye and reliever Scott Linebrink.

After being swept by the Yankees in New York over the weekend, the White Sox entered Monday’s action with a 64-67 record and were 5 1/2 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central.

Players must be acquired by midnight ET on Monday to be eligible for postseason play with their new team.

Well, that shows you how much confidence the White Sox front office has in the club’s ability to make the postseason.

Jake Peavy would not talk to the press today about the results of his elbow tests, which I’m thinking is a dubious indication. He’ll be talking after the game, so stay tuned for that.

Combine that news with this team’s current status and it’s hard to be surprised Kenny is giving up.

Spring training is only a few more months away.

P.S. Good luck trying to find any team willing to take on Linebrink’s salary.