"The Cubs insist there's no such thing as monsters, even at Fenway Park.

Just a tall, green, harmless wall.

Never mind that Alfonso Soriano seems to have repressed his memories of his first experience playing left field at Fenway Park five years ago, a three-game series with the Washington Nationals that included an error. Or that he turned a Jacoby Ellsbury single into a double when he overran a liner to left Friday.

Fear struck out when it came to the Cubs left fielder with wall and glove issues.

''No, I have no fear,'' manager Mike Quade said of opening a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox with Soriano standing in the menacing shadow of the famed Green Monster. ''I don't worry about that at all.''

The Soriano vs. the Monster story line was one of the most intriguing, if not entertaining, to explore as the Cubs opened their first regular-season series at Fenway in franchise history, particularly with the designated hitter available to Quade.

But the walls at Wrigley are much more fearsome, Soriano said, and the quirks of left field far more challenging.

''It's easier to play left field here than in Chicago,'' Soriano said. ''It's a short left field — very short. Chicago, with the wind, with the [brick] wall .?.?. Here, it's only a big Green Monster. I think it's a very easy ballpark to play right field. I think.''

As if to prove his point, he played two balls to the wall in the fourth inning perfectly to hold the batters to singles."