Lance Johnson was back on the field Tuesday night for the first time in 2 1/2 months, ending a long, strange chapter in his career.
Only five weeks ago, Johnson was informed by a hand specialist in Minnesota that he would not be able to swing a bat again until early September. When Cubs management disagreed with the diagnosis, Johnson had to endure speculation that he was faking his injury.
“Sometimes in life you’ve got to deal with the cards you’re dealt,” Johnson said. “You get hurt and you’ve just got to face it and wait until you heal. It’s been a long battle–10 weeks or so–and I’ve been coming here busting my butt to get right every day.
“You’ve just got to wait on Mother Nature with this injury I had. I’m not 100 percent, but I think I can go out and get some hits and play defense.”
It took all of five minutes for Johnson to show he was back. He entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh, and made a sliding catch of a sinking liner and doubled a runner off of first.
Time for a change? Manager Jim Riggleman suggested Tuesday that perhaps Terry Adams’ recent struggles can be traced to the fact that he doesn’t have any soft stuff in his repertoire to go with his blazing fastball and slider.
Adams messed around with a changeup late last year during his work on the side, but never felt comfortable enough with it to break it out during games.
“There’s some guys who can get away with doing that,” Riggleman said. “If you’re the (closer), you might have two pitches, but if you’re the middle guy you probably need three. . . . He’s always been working (on a change), but I think what happens is each year he comes in and dominates so much early in the season that you don’t want to mess with success. You don’t put the time and conviction into the third pitch.”
This song is over: Forget about that plan to have the Cubs players and coaching staff sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” from the dugout on Aug. 2 as part of the Harry Caray Day tribute.
After several players voiced their concern to General Manager Ed Lynch about the idea, the Cubs decided to cancel the plan.
“As a collective group, we felt that more bad than good could come out of it,” Mark Grace said. “If one team was blowing the other team out, it would not be a festive time to start singing. I know that if I was leading off the next inning, I wouldn’t want to do it. Out of respect for Harry, we’ll figure out some other way to honor him.”
“The best way to honor Harry is to go out and win the ballgame,” Lynch said.
Mickey uncaged: Mickey Morandini hit his sixth home run of the season Monday night, tying a career high set in 1995. Morandini said during batting practice Tuesday he does not feel like a caged animal just yet.
“Almost,” he said. “Maybe I’ll stop talking to you media guys about my home runs.”
Gonzo goes bonkers: Jeremi Gonzalez was taking some good-natured abuse from his teammates Tuesday as they replayed the videotape of his scene in the dugout after being removed from Monday night’s game.
Riggleman didn’t care about Gonzalez’s blowup.
“One of the things that makes him so good is that he’s so competitive,” he said. “He’s one of my favorite people I’ve ever managed.”
