BASEBALL / JEFF FLETCHER : Franco Is Shadow of Moonlight

Matt Franco’s major league career, so far, is less spectacular than Moonlight Graham’s.

The Chicago Cubs called up Franco last week. His first appearance in a major league uniform during the regular season was hastened by Steve Buechele’s injury and Shawon Dunston’s suspension for fighting.

Franco, a graduate of Westlake High, was in uniform for two games in San Diego. Friends and family members made the three-hour drive to Jack Murphy Stadium, eagerly anticipating what they never saw--Franco in a game.

As soon as Dunston served his suspension, Franco was shipped back to triple-A Iowa, his name never showing up in a box score.

Even Moonlight Graham, the real-life character portrayed in the film “Field of Dreams,” played one inning in his “career.”

Franco, 25, in his eighth pro season, figures to have more of a career than that, but pardon him if he’s been feeling like forces are aligned against him lately.

On June 20, the first of his two games in San Diego, he was primed to pinch-hit in the eighth inning and the pitcher’s spot due up. Buechele turned to him in the dugout and said, “Go up there and get yourself a hit.”

But Scott Bullett pinch-hit instead.

The next day the Cubs lost, 1-0, and the opportunity for Franco to play never came up.

“Not getting to play at all kind of put a little damper on it but it was fun being there,” Franco said. “I’ve been playing a long time, and I hadn’t been to the majors. Just to get a little taste of it makes me really want to get back.”

Franco’s major league debut actually should have come last year, when he was certain to be promoted once rosters expanded in September. But the strike took care of those plans.

This year, the Cubs seemed to be preparing Franco to make the majors as a third baseman, moving him from first base, where he was in the shadow of All-Star Mark Grace. But on June 16, the Cubs acquired third baseman Todd Zeile from the St. Louis Cardinals.

“It was very disappointing,” Franco said. “I think maybe that day I was a little down, but what could I do? It’s not going to do me any good to pout about it. There are still 27 other teams out there if I don’t make it to the big leagues with the Cubs.”

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Steve Soliz has found the bright side to his demotion.

“I’m closer to home and I’m getting to play more,” said Soliz, who was sent last week from double-A Canton-Akron to Class-A Bakersfield.

Soliz, a catcher from Rio Mesa drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 1993, moved quickly to double A, but he was rotting on the bench in Canton. Through the middle of June, he appeared in only 22 games, hitting .140.

The Indians signed veteran catcher Don Wakamatsu and assigned him to Canton, leaving even less time for Soliz, and punching his ticket for a demotion.

“I’m not going to say I would have torn it up [in double A], but one way to find out was to let me play a little more,” Soliz said. “I’m confident I could hit there.

“I wasn’t so much surprised about the move down, but I was surprised when they signed another catcher. That’s why I could see it coming.”

Soliz, 24, has made the best of his assignment to Bakersfield, a co-op team that shares prospects from several organizations. In his first 32 at-bats, he had 12 hits.

“I’m just trying to make the best of this situation,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get more exposure with scouts from other teams.”

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Bobby Ayala has made quite an impression on Seattle Mariner fans, and not just because of his hard split-finger fastball and 12 saves.

It’s his goatee.

Ayala, a Rio Mesa graduate, started growing the chin ornament before the 1994 season, after he was traded to the Mariners from the Cincinnati Reds, who didn’t allow facial hair. Now it’s growing on the fans.

The Mariners’ promotion for Wednesday night’s game against the Oakland Athletics was Bobby Ayala Goatee Night. Every fan with a goatee--real or artificial--was admitted free. A total of 5,586 men, women and children got free tickets because of their goatees.

Another 5,000 non-goatee-wearing fans were given stick-ons.

During the game, all the player photos on the scoreboard were shown with goatees added. Between innings, highlights of Great Moments in Goatee History were shown.

And early in the game, a message was flashed on the board noting that all five runs to that point had been driven in by players with goatees.

Bobby Ayala Goatee Night had everything except . . . Bobby Ayala, who didn’t pitch.