DeRosa doing fine after trip to hospital

MESA, Ariz. -- Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa was taken to a local hospital for precautionary measures Saturday after reporting a rapid heartbeat and having some difficulty breathing.

An ambulance arrived at the team's Fitch Park facility at about 12:15 p.m. Mountain Time. DeRosa was sitting up on a stretcher when he was wheeled off by paramedics.

According to the Cubs' staff, DeRosa has a history of irregular heartbeats. The problem surfaced during Saturday's workouts when DeRosa was taking fielding practice.

DeRosa turns 33 Tuesday.

"Mark's doing fine," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "He came in with a rapid heartbeat from doing things on the field and (was) having a little trouble breathing. So they called in the medical team. He's completely stable.

"But better be safe than sorry. With an irregular heartbeat and so forth, they sent him to the hospital to test him and evaluate him."

DeRosa was released and sent home early Saturday night.

The Cubs said team doctor Charles Peterson was present at Fitch Park and tended to DeRosa, who had an EKG on the premises. They also said DeRosa felt faint but never lost consciousness.

"It's something he's dealt with since he was a little bitty dude," shortstop Ryan Theriot said. "I think, personally, it's one of those things that scares you when it starts to happen. I've had the same scare a time or two in my life. Everybody experiences it to a certain extent."

Theriot said he alerted team trainer Mark O'Neal when he noticed DeRosa having difficulty.

Last June 20, DeRosa suffered an ocular migraine during a game at Texas. He came out of the game after losing partial vision in his left eye. He returned to the lineup the next night.

He was a lineup scratch June 23 against the White Sox after he suffered an adverse reaction to medication he was taking for the migraine.

Last year DeRosa batted .293 with 10 homers and a .371 on-base percentage.

No fair: Pitcher Kerry Wood snapped off a breaking ball Saturday that had first baseman Derrek Lee bailing.

"Hey," Lee said to Wood. Both players joked about it later.

"It was too good," Lee said. "It started at my head and went over for a strike."

Lou Piniella has liked Wood's pitching from Day One of spring training.

"It does look live," Piniella said. "It really does. I didn't see him today, but the first thing our general manager (Jim Hendry) said when I went over to the other field was, 'Boy, Kerry was really, really good today.'"

Crash landing: During rundown drills, reliever Scott Eyre tripped while chasing outfielder Sam Fuld and scored a takedown of the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Fuld.

"Anybody but him," Eyre said.

"After that catch he made for you," a teammate chimed in.

Fuld made a game-saving catch late last season to bail Eyre out.

"I told him I don't deserve this," Fuld said, laughing. "A little rookie hazing. I can handle it. I didn't see it. All of a sudden, I had this big, 220-pound guy on my back."

Remember him? Lou Piniella came away impressed with the swing of backup outfielder Matt Murton during live batting practice.

"Murton's really got a nice swing," Piniella said. "I mentioned it to him, a really nice, short, quick, compact swing."