Rey Sanchez knew when he threw the ball it would be in the dirt in front of first base.
“That’s why we have a Gold Glove first baseman,” he said. “Hard to get anyone out if you don’t throw the ball.”
Sanchez wasted no time in reminding everyone he’s back at his regular duties at shortstop. Playing for the first time Saturday in the Cubs’ 3-0 victory over St. Louis since being shelved June 5 for hand surgery, Sanchez was as solid on defense as ever and made a crucial play in the fourth inning.
The Cubs recalled him and left-handed reliever Larry Casian from Iowa on Friday, sending down Tanyon Sturtze and Terry Shumpert.
Sanchez ranged to his left in the fourth to snare Brian Jordan’s ground ball on the edge of the grass, whirled and threw to Mark Grace. After the first baseman snapped up a tough hop, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa argued that Grace never had control.
Argued, that is, with the umpire. It was Friday night he went out to debate with Grace on a more emotional topic: beanball wars.
Grace-LaRussa, Part II: Grace rarely refuses to discuss an issue. But Saturday he didn’t want to reveal the X-rated conversation he had near first base Friday with the mercurial La Russa.
Their run-in occurred after reliever Terry Adams hit St. Louis Mark Petkovsek with a pitch near the head. Earlier in the at-bat, Adams had also thrown in Petkovsek’s direction and La Russa figured manager Jim Riggleman’s pitcher was going after his pitcher because the Cards were still trying sacrifice bunts with a comfortable lead in a game they won 9-1.
“Let’s just say I wasn’t in the mood to listen,” Grace said of the exchange of unpleasantries with La Russa when the manager visited with his pitcher near the bag. The situation brought Riggleman to the field and he and La Russa, good friends who chat before every game, barked at each other.
Immediately after the game, even though the midnight hour had long passed, Riggleman made sure to catch La Russa’s attention. The managers hashed out their feelings at home plate. Riggleman said Saturday he understood why La Russa might think Adams was throwing at Petkovsek, believing the Cubs were upset about the sacrifice bunt.
“I told him Adams wasn’t throwing at anybody,” Riggleman said. “Some people in baseball do think teams shouldn’t be bunting in that situation, but I’d bunt too. I’m not soft on the issue (of hitting a batter). But only if someone is throwing at my players.
“I tell my players that just because we’re getting beat badly, that is no reason to throw at someone. Just because that might have been the mentality in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Getting hot: Saves have come in dribs and drabs for the Cubs this year, partly because they are either losing or winning by big margins. But closer Turk Wendell now has two saves in the last three days and his save total has risen to nine.
With two runners on base and two out in the ninth, Wendell made what he considers his best pitch of the game to squelch the potential tying run.
“My biggest pitch was a 2-0 slider to Willie McGee,” he said about the pinch hitter he retired on a called strike to end the game. “If I go 3-0 there, who knows.”
A second lefty: Bob Patterson needs to be lonely no more. In bringing back Casian, the Cubs add a second lefty to their repertoire. Riggleman had been confined to using Patterson only in games the Cubs were ahead, wanting to conserve his only southpaw.
“Larry can start, but right now he’s coming out of the bullpen,” Riggleman said.
If struggling starter Frank Castillo can’t turn around his game, Casian’s role could change in a hurry.
