Just Bruisin’

The Sunday afternoon in which M. Barrett landed a right uppercut in A.J. Pierzynksi’s mug, I thought to myself, “how in the hell can A.J. be alright?”

I mean, it was direct hit to his head; it looked as if it were strong enough to give him a concussion. But there he was, saluting the crowd, smacking his cheek to indicate his aptitude in taking cheap shots.

It turns out, though, that Cubs players aren’t as tough. Sure, they can throw a punch. But they can’t take one. Or, more accurately, they can’t take getting hit in the elbow with a fungo bat.

From the Chicago Tribune, Dave van Dyk writes:

Just when Chicago 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 him with a backswing while he was hitting ground balls to infielders.

X-rays taken at PNC Park were negative.

Pittsburgh’s medical staff examined Zambrano in the training room and pronounced the injury an “elbow tendon contusion,” although they declined to say how serious the injury was.