The NL Central saw its second star in as many days fall on Wednesday as Cubs' outfielder Alfonso Soriano suffered a minimally displaced fracture of the fourth metacarpal on his left hand when he was hit by a pitch by Atlanta's Jeff Bennett. He'll now be sidelined for six weeks, according to the team's website.

"There's nothing I can about it because it's part of the game. I cannot control that situation," Soriano said Thursday. "As soon as the ball hit me in the hand I couldn't move my finger. So I thought it was very bad. We'll see how it is in two weeks. ... They say it's a little broke. They said six weeks, but we'll see what happens. I'm going to do treatment every day, hopefully I'm back soon." 

Soriano, who was the leading vote-getter among National League outfielders in the All-Star balloting, was batting .283. He hit his team-leading 15th home run on Saturday, and was hitting .323 with 13 homers and 35 RBIs in his past 38 games since returning from the disabled list.

It will be interesting to see who manager Lou Piniella settles on as the leadoff hitter with Soriano out of action.

The Cubs currently sport the best record in MLB, an unprecedented 19 games above .500, and atop the NL Central as they hold a three-game lead over the surprising St. Louis Cardinals. While Soriano's loss will surely hurt the team, they've been playing well enough to overcome it.