By Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — While Jeff Samardzija took pains to explain to White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski he felt badly for hitting Paul Konerko in the face with a split-fingered fastball, Bryan LaHair was upset that an apparent retaliation pitch from Sox pitcher Philip Humber sailed behind his head.
“I definitely felt like it was intentional,” LaHair said. “They waited a whole inning, and then the first pitch was right at my head. I’m all right with getting hit. I understand. But you start getting around people’s heads, that’s kind of dangerous. It could be scary. I didn’t get hurt or anything, so just kind of move on from it.”
LaHair said he expected retaliation.
“Konerko gets hit, no matter where he gets hit, there’s always going to be some kind of retaliation,” he said. “Hit me. Just don’t hit me in the head. They didn’t. He missed, so it was good for me.”
Samardzija said Konerko is a “superstar who does it the right way, and there’s not too many of those guys out there. He’s not about show. He’s not about himself. Paulie is a great guy. That ball got away and unfortunately hit him up high. If I could take it back, I would. The only thing that makes me OK (with it) is he’s a tough guy. I hope he’ll be all right, and I wish I had that one back.”
Over and out: Every Cubs-Sox series seems to have a controversial umpire’s call, and David DeJesus was caught in the middle of one in the fifth inning Friday when he was called out at second after being upended by Gordon Beckham and shoved off the bag.
“As far as I know, you can’t shove people off the base,” manager Dale Sveum said. “Otherwise people would be doing it all the time. Unfortunately we lost a guy at second base … and it was a big play at that part of the game.”
Umpire Eric Cooper told DeJesus his leg “bounced off the bag” during the tag.
“It was an off throw, so I slid in there as hard as I can, and the next thing I know he just shouldered me into the ground,” DeJesus said. “It could’ve kept the inning going, and you never know what (happens) from then.”
Sveum was ejected for arguing the play, and missed taking Kerry Wood out of the game for the last time.
“I wish I could’ve been out there to be the one that took him out of the game and made that decision,” he said. “I wish I would’ve thought about that before I got carried away. But afterward, I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to miss this.’ “
Catch 22: Cubs catcher Geovany Soto had arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee on Friday, and will be gone for 3-4 weeks. The Cubs called up Triple-A Iowa catcher Blake Lalli, who grounded out in his first major league at-bat in the ninth. Sveum said Darwin Barney would’ve been the emergency catcher.
Chris Volstad was optioned to Iowa to make room for Lalli. Sveum said Travis Wood would be called up before Tuesday’s game against the Astros in Houston to take Volstad’s spot in the rotation.
