Just when Cubs fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, it has.
The team’s only All-Star, pitcher Carlos Zambrano, was hit above the right elbow with a fungo bat during pregame practice Tuesday by White Sox coach Joey Cora.
Neither Zambrano nor Cora was available for comment afterward. Cora said through a Sox spokesman that Zambrano was doing an interview with a Venezuelan journalist behind the batting cage and Cora hit struck with a backswing while he was hitting ground balls to infielders.
X-rays taken at PNC Park were negative.
Members of Pittsburgh’s medical staff examined Zambrano in the training room and pronounced the injury an “elbow tendon contusion,” though they declined to say how serious the injury was. They also said the Cubs’ medical staff had been alerted.
Of course, the Cubs’ medical staff has had its share of problems with pitchers. Kerry Wood is on the disabled list with continued shoulder soreness that has been traced to the rotator cuff. Mark Prior was scratched from his last start before the All-Star Game after straining a muscle in his side.
Zambrano had been scheduled to pitch Saturday at Wrigley Field against the Mets. If he misses one or more turns, it will mean the Cubs’ only veteran starter is Greg Maddux, though Glendon Rusch filled in for Prior on Sunday.
Zambrano was 3-0 with a 1.96 ERA in his five June starts.
National League manager Phil Garner knew little about the injury.
“We were already off the field [from practice],” he said. “I was told he has a bruise on his right arm. I don’t know much more.”
Zambrano did not appear in the game, even though he was scheduled to pitch.
“I had him scheduled to pitch the fourth and fifth innings, so I had to [readjust] everything,” Garner said.
