PHILADELPHIA -- It wasn’t a Matt Kemp kind of April for Chicago Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair, yet it was still an opening month that deserved notice.

LaHair finished it off with a flourish Monday, collecting two hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth inning that briefly tied the game. The Phillies won it, 6-4 with two runs a half inning later.

The 29-year-old rookie certainly showed that he belongs, batting .390 in April with five home runs and 14 RBIs. He went 7-for-15 in the four-game series against the Phillies.

“It’s good to get off to a good start and help the team to win as best as I can,” LaHair said. “It’s a team sport and I’m just excited about moving forward.”

The issue is that to move forward the Cubs are going to need more than LaHair producing. Alfonso Soriano has struggled to collect extra-base hits, although he did have a double Monday, and Ian Stewart has been wildly inconsistent.


Those two will have to help carry the power load as well with the schedule now flipped to May. The Cubs had just nine home runs in April, the first time they haven’t reached double-digits in that category for a month since August of 1981 when they also had nine.

“We’re not going to be that team, even on a good year that would hit 180 or anything like that,” manager Dale Sveum said. “I’m confident that we’re going to hit more than nine in a month. That’s hard to do for the most part.”

LaHair's 2011 season suggests that the long balls will keep coming. He had 38 home runs at Triple-A Iowa and another 15 more in winter ball down in Venezuela.

“It’s nice because he’s just kind of carrying it over,” Sveum said. “He’s our one guy that’s hitting home runs and they are all big home runs too.”

LaHair shrugs when asked about it. He has managed to stay steady by not getting caught up in game situations or the fact that he is finally a big-league regular after all the years of trying.

“I live for the [clutch] moments,” LaHair said. “That’s what everybody lives for. I think for me I just stay consistent with each at-bat. I don’t let any one at-bat overwhelm me. I go pitch to pitch and all I try to do is to get good pitches to hit and hit them hard every at-bat. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but if I’m consistent doing that I’ll be all right.”

He remains confident that his teammates will soon join him in going deep.

“There are guys in here who have been doing it for a while and there is no doubt in my mind there will be other guys on this team that will hit for power,” he said.

So now that the month is over, did he ever imagine he would outhit Albert Pujols by five home runs in a single month?

“He’s the best ever so I'm not going to comment on that one,” LaHair said.

Even when the game is over he showed that he can avoid being fooled by a pitch.