Who's Karstens? Cubs certainly know now
Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jeff Karstens was a pitcher in the right place at the right time Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Making his first start in the big leagues since last August, against a Cubs team that knew little about him and appeared hung over from its emotional four-game sweep in Milwaukee, Karstens made it all work in his favor.
Karstens frustrated the Cubs for 6 innings, allowing 5 harmless singles, before turning it over to a bullpen that finished the job for him in the 3-0 victory.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella said before the game that his coaches "called around" asking how Karstens pitched.
The information must have been bad.
"I just tried to basically go right after them," Karstens said. "They haven't seen me and I haven't seen them so they really had no idea how I was going to attack them.
"I threw a lot of off-speed stuff, but they're a really good fastball hitting team and sometimes that's what you've got to do to win."
Karstens did walk four, but the his teammates turned two double plays behind him and two more after he left.
"I was trying to minimize damage, if anything," Karstens said.
A pair of two-out walks and a single loaded the bases in the fourth inning, but Karstens got Geovany Soto on a soft fly to center.
"He threw the ball well," Pirates manager John Russell said. "He changed speeds well then started throwing more fastballs to keep them off balance. He kept them off balance pretty much all day.
"We knew coming in that he knows how to pitch a little bit and has some weapons to pitch."
It was Karstens' first appearance with the Pirates since being acquired from the Yankees as part of the package for outfielder Xavier Nady and reliever Damaso Marte.
The Pirates, who also traded outfielder Jason Bay to Boston on Thursday, came into the game last in the NL Central.
Karstens had spent the entire 2008 season at the Yankees' Class AAA affiliate at Scranton-Wilkes Barre.
One day the Cubs are beating Brewers all-star Ben Sheets and a few days later they're losing to Karstens in only his 16th major-league appearance.
"I'm pretty sure there is pressure on me, but I try not to think about it," Karstens said. "My job is just to go out there and give us a chance to win."
The Cubs had no more success against three Pirates relievers. Sean Burnett did the job in the eighth, getting pinch hitter Reed Johnson to ground into an inning-ending double play after Danny Bautista walked Kosuke Fukodome and Aramis Ramirez.
With their trades, the Pirates have a lineup filled with players that are hardly household names, but Russell liked what he saw Friday.
"We had some nice energy," Russell said. "We have some guys that you can tell are excited to be here."