Pirates reliever from Lombard: 'I'm a White Sox fan'

PITTSBURGH - There are no conflicting feelings for Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Rob Scahill when it comes to facing the Cubs.

"I'm a White Sox fan," Scahill said Tuesday. "I got no allegiances here. I want nothing more than to beat the Cubs, especially when they're in our division and potentially standing in the way of us getting into the playoffs."

The 28-year-old Scahill is a resident of Lombard and a graduate of Willowbrook High School. He played his college baseball at Bradley.

He says his family is split between Cubs and White Sox fans but he landed on the South Side part of the intracity rivalry.

More important, Scahill is healthy again. He was on the Pirates' disabled list from June 26-Sept. 1 with right-forearm tightness. He's back now and says all systems are go.

"I"m feeling much better," he said. "I needed to let the inflammation clear out in my elbow. Once that did, I didn't have any setbacks with throwing. So it was just a matter of building the arm strength and getting back into game shape."

Scahill was traded from the Colorado Rockies to the Pirates last November. Now he's in a pennant race.

"Oh, it's fantastic," he said. "The energy that the stadium and the fans bring every day, the energy that we play with, it's something you can't beat. It's an experience like nothing I've ever had before."