Gorzelanny takes line drive in stride
The wicked line drive Cubs starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny absorbed in the left deltoid Saturday was painful in more than one way.
With veteran left-hander Ted Lilly set to make his big-league return as soon as next weekend in Milwaukee after 2 minor league rehabilitation starts, either Gorzelanny or Carlos Silva is expected to be sent to the bullpen to make room.
Silva, who is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in 2 starts, made his case to stay in the rotation in a 7-2 victory over Houston on Friday. Gorzelanny (0-1, 1.93 ERA) was hoping to make his case with a solid outing Saturday, but his competitive desire to keep pitching through what manager Lou Piniella described as "a bruise" gave way to common sense on a 48-degree afternoon.
"I felt like I didn't need to come out," Gorzelanny said. "At that point it didn't feel like it was bad at all. It barely felt like anything. I tried to do what I could to stay in. Right then and there I didn't think it was the right decision. But now that I look at it, it was definitely the right decision ... It was kind of chilly out there. If I just kept going out each inning and kept trying to throw through it, it would have just gotten worse."
Said Piniella: "He wanted to stay in, to his credit. It really stiffened up on him. He wouldn't have been able to go very long."
Silva is scheduled to pitch Wednesday in New York. Gorzelanny is slated to start against the Mets on Thursday. Will he be able to make that start? "I have no doubt," Gorzelanny said.
Piniella offered no hints before the game as to which way he's leaning on the Silva-Gorzelanny bullpen debate.
"We're going to look at it and do what we feel is best for the ballclub," he said. "We've got to look at it from a couple of different perspectives, and we'll talk about that later down the road. Let's hope the decision is really, really tough. That means everybody's pitching well."
Not hopping to it: Alfonso Soriano, who made an error on a catchable ball in left field in the fifth inning, said after the game he has ditched his sometimes controversial hop step before attempting a catch.
"I just try to more relax and concentrate and catch the ball and not hop because sometimes when I hop I just move my head," Soriano said. "On routine flyballs, I've got to make those plays."
Soriano did not use the hop step on the ball he dropped for an error because he was charging in to make the play. However, the hop step was also absent on a routine flyball in the eighth inning off the bat of Carlos Lee.