Cubs’ Samardzija gets back to work tonight
It may seem like forever that Jeff Samardzija has started a game for the Cubs. It hasn’t been that long, but Samardzija made his last start July 7 at New York.
“It’s been awhile,” he said. “My arm feels great. I took those days off and tried to get my body ready for the second half.”
The Cubs give Samardzija extra rest whenever they can because he is in his first full year as a major-league starting pitcher. Even with that, Samardzija will take over the team lead in starts (18) when he pitches Wednesday night against the Miami Marlins.
It has been an up-and-down, learning season for Samardzija, who is 6-8 with a 4.71 ERA. He sees more ups than downs.
“Absolutely,” he said. “You take a couple of those games out of there, and it’s a different first half. But then again, that’s also the way it goes. You learn from it and learn what went wrong and try not to let that stuff happen again.”
Samardzija has pitched 101 innings this season, but manager Dale Sveum said the Cubs are not putting an innings-limit on the pitcher for this year and then shutting him down.
“I don’t think we’re going to put a number on it,” Sveum said. “I think by the way we’ve set it up all year, it’s going to end up at a relatively decent number.
“But we’re not going to sit there and say he’s got 70 pitches after 5 innings and that’s it for innings-wise. We’re not going to do anything like that.
“The plan all along is to try and keep those innings down, obviously. Whenever we could, we were going to push him back.
“You never know with that kind of stuff. Guys get off their five days, six days. Some guys are really good at it and they need their rest, and other guys seem to struggle, so there’s no rhyme or reason to it sometime.”
Getting some work:Reliever Rafael Dolis threw a simulated game Tuesday, facing hitters Tony Campana and Joe Mather. Neither Dolis nor reliever Jairo Asencio had pitched in a game since July 3. #147;They need to just get out there with some hitters in there and get on the mound,#148; Dale Sveum said. #147;They haven#146;t been out there in quite awhile.#148;Remember him?Reliever Lendy Castillo, who has been on the disabled list since mid-May with a groin strain, has begun a rehab assignment for the Cubs#146; Rookie League team in Mesa, Ariz.Castillo started Monday and worked 3 innings, giving up 2 hits and no runs.