In the midst of Sunday`s clubhouse complaints that the Astros were scuffing baseballs came a little levity.
”Has that shipment of corked bats come in yet?” Cubs center-fielder Bobby Dernier said jokingly to a clubhouse attendant.
David Martinez and Ryne Sandberg both struck out in successive games with a runner on third and less than two outs.
”Sometimes I think the hitters press,” said manager Gene Michael. ”I think Davey Martinez has had a couple at-bats recently when he`s pressed. But he`s been good over the long run until just recently.”
The annual game between Cub players and their children Sunday went on without Lee Smith`s 3-month-old daughter, Nikita.
”She`s warming up in the bullpen,” said Smith. ”She might be ready by next season.”
Andre Dawson was asked to explain his hot hitting against Houston this year. He was 13 for 28 with 9 runs scored, 8 homers and 18 RBIs in six games against Houston at Wrigley Field. The Cubs meet the Astros again next week in Houston. ”It`s just a strange game altogether,” Dawson told WGN radio`s Jim Frey. ”Houston is leading the league in earned-run average and they have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. I`m doing better against this particular ballclub than, say, a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates or Atlanta Braves who don`t have that good of a pitching staff. It boils down to getting in a groove and feeling comfortable at the plate.”
Reliever Frank DiPino is trying to develop a third pitch-perhaps a forkball-to make him more effective. He is learning on the job because Kevin Bass beat him with an 11th-inning homer Saturday.
”Bass hit a forkball, just another pitch that I need to keep down,”
said DiPino. ”It wasn`t up or hung. Kevin has just got good power and he hit it right.” I don`t have a nasty forkball; I use it for an off-speed pitch. I`m working on a third pitch like that. It`s a mind game out there, you just don`t know what to do.”
