CSN: Konerko hit in face? |? White Sox top Cubs

May 18, 2012, 5:38 pm

JJ STANKEVITZ

The White Sox may have pulled out a 3-2 win over the Cubs Friday at Wrigley Field, but the loss suffered in the third inning may loom larger.

A 2-2 splitter from Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija ran inside on Paul Konerko, hitting him in the face and leaving the White Sox captain crumpled in a heap at home plate for a few scary moments. The 36-year-old first baseman got up and had to be escorted off the field with a towel pinned to his face, as he suffered a small cut above his left eye thanks to the 85 mile per hour pitch.

"You never want to see a guy get hurt, period. To have a ball around someone?s head is a scary situation," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "It?s something you don?t want to see."

Manager Robin Ventura said he didn't have an update on Konerko's status, which was announced as just a laceration and swelling, although he was set to undergo further tests. Pierzynski saw Konerko before he left the park, though, and offered somewhat encouraging news.

"His eye was pretty swelled up, but he was cognizant and didn?t say he was dizzy or anything," Pierzynski said. "I?ve seen him get hit before and get up and go to first. It was a little scary when he didn?t get right up. He seemed fine and we?ll see how he feels tomorrow."

Konerko homered in his previous at-bat, so when Samardzija's offering sailed inside, naturally there were calls for blood from the White Sox fans in attendance at Wrigley Field. The Sox, however, weren't playing that game -- at least, so they say.

Philip Humber threw a fastball up and behind Bryan LaHair to lead off the bottom of the fourth, a pitch Humber and Ventura insist just got away from the White Sox starter. But home plate umpire Tim Timmons had other ideas and issued a warning to both benches.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum didn't label the pitch as retaliatory, but if it was, he thought the Sox could have done a better and safer job of sending the message.

?Are you expecting retaliation of somebody throwing at somebody else?s head? No," Sveum said. "Unfortunately, you?re not really expecting any retaliation after somebody gets hit by a split-finger fastball. We?re obviously not trying to hit Paul with any kind of pitch like that.

"But if there?s retaliation, you?d sure appreciate if the guy throws a little bit lower than he did. Unfortunately, you know, he didn?t."

Sveum, essentially, just hoped the pitch got away from Humber and that it wasn't thrown in response to Konerko's beaning. Ventura tried to add some credence to that thought after the game.

"If we wanted to do anything, we would have hit him," Ventura said, referring to Samardzija, who led off the bottom of the third. "It's just baseball, you just keep going."

"That one just got away from me," added Humber. "It's just one of those things that happens during the game."

Pierzynski and Samardzija chatted before the Cubs pitcher came up to hit in the third, during which Samardzija apologized. From the sound of it, Pierzynski and his teammates knew the beaning wasn't intentional.

"He was asking if Paul was ok and that was it," Pierzynski said. "It was an offspeed pitch and we knew it wasn?t intentional and [Samardzija] just said to tell Paul he was sorry, I didn?t mean to do it. I was like yeah, we know. It was no big deal."

But in these crosstown contests, plenty of things can be blown out of proportion. Luckily for Gordon Beckham, most of the vitriol was directed at the umpiring crew when he, for all intents and purposes, tackled David DeJesus off the second-base bag, leading to a questionable out call that ultimately got Sveum ejected for the first time in his managerial career.

"I couldn't stop. I tried to get there and realized right when I lunged out that I was going to be late and ended up basically tackling him," Beckham said. "Didn't mean to do it, obviously."

For the first time in a little while, Friday's game felt like a classic crosstown matchup. The beaning of Konerko, the play at second, Samardzija's game-tying single, Beckham's go-ahead home run and, of course, Kerry Wood's final career pitch contributed to a lively atmosphere after questions about the series going stale were numerous this week.

"I think that was more than the typical game, it seemed like there was a lot of stuff going on," Beckham said. "Both teams played really hard, so you gotta be proud about that. We were fortunate enough to come out on top."

Fortunate is a good way to put it. The Sox are hoping Konerko, arguably the most irreplaceable player on the roster, won't miss much time. Without Konerko, the Sox may be fortunate to come away with wins.

Someone else who's hoping Konerko is back soon is his golfing buddy, who happens to be the manager on the other side of town.

"I hope Paul?s all right, because he?s a friend of mine," Sveum said. "I play with golf with him. Hopefully, it?s no big deal.?

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