White Sox’ Konerko could be back Sunday
Looks can be deceiving, and Paul Konerko is a prime example.
Talking to reporters Saturday — a day after he was drilled in the face by a pitch from Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija — Konerko was sporting nasty shades of black and purple around his left eye.
There were also laceration marks above the eye and on the side of his nose.
Besides that, the White Sox’ captain said he feels great.
“It’s obviously a black eye, swollen,” said Konerko, who did not play Saturday night. “It’s just a matter of getting the swelling down. There’s no damage, no fractures, no problems with vision, other than just kind of seeing the swelling when I look out. So as soon as we get that out of the way, I’ll be good to go.”
Konerko could be back in the Sox’ lineup Sunday against the Cubs, but a Tuesday night return against the Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field seems more likely. The White Sox are off Monday.
He was hit by Samardzjia in the third inning Friday after hitting a 2-run homer off the right-hander in the first.
Was the beaning intentional? Konerko says no.
“I thought it looked like a cutter or a slider from the front end,” Konerko said. “He said it was a splitter, someone said it was a splitter, so it obviously didn’t come out right, out of the hand. The velocity (85 mph) I think shows that as well.
“I think with the sequence of pitches I had seen up until that point, I figured it was going to be what he was going to throw. So when it came out of the hand, I was staying in there kind of holding my ground because I figured it was going to be one of those two pitches anyways, and that’s what it looked like out of the hand.
“And then instead of going either straight down or down and away from me, it just kind of stayed high and unraveled kind of into me. It just chased me up and in.”
Konerko, who had not heard from Samardzjia as of late Saturday afternoon, dropped down to the ground after being hit in the head. He was able to get to his feet after about a minute, and the swelling had already started.
“Anytime you get hit up high, everything happens kind of fast and it kind of blew up kind of quick,” said Konerko, who took a Carl Pavano pitch in the mouth in 2010. “So when I was looking out, within 5-10 seconds my vision was obstructed by the swelling. But when it first happens like that you’re thinking something is wrong with your actual vision, which is a different story. So luckily it wasn’t that. It’s just a nice black eye.”
Konerko had a series of tests taken at Rush University Medical Center on Friday. Like he said, no fractures, no major damage, no vision problems, no concussion.
He’ll continue to ice the eye and get back on the field when the swelling does not impede his vision.
“You want to be able to see, but it’s really not that big of a deal ... I have no worries,” Konerko said. “It’s just a matter of time. Like it could be later on today, it could be tomorrow. I would think worst case would be Tuesday. I have no dizziness, I don’t really even have that much soreness up in that area.”