Special to 100 Year Itch
Guest Post by: The Nug
The Sometimes Daily Nug
Jeff Samardzija didn’t start for the Cubs in Florida on Sunday after several reports surfaced online earlier this week. Lou Piniella announced right-hander Ryan Dempster will start on Sunday at Florida. The Shark’s starting debut as a Cub will have to wait for now.
A few weeks back a friend of mine, a die-hard USC fan, chuckled when I told him Jeff Samardzija had been brought up to the majors and will be pitching for the Chicago Cubs. “Isn’t he that slow, white, wide receiver from Notre Dame?” Slow? I think not. Dominant. I think so. Blue-Gray Sky pointed out Samardzija had more 40-yard plus touchdowns during his last two years for the Irish than Calvin Johnson, Ted Ginn, Dwayne Jarrett and Mario Manningham.
The rookie right hander is being called one of Major League Baseball’s 25 Most Improbable Success Stories. Frankly, I’m not surprised. His rise to Major League success has been meteoric and although he’s not exactly Rudy, and it’s still early in his career, he brings some impressive stats to the table.
Piniella has used Samardzija predominantly for the middle relief role, but he does have one save. In 10 appearances his ERA is an impressive 1.23. Opposing batters are hitting just .157 against him. And he has only given up only two runs in those 10 games. Additionally, the Cubs are 7-3 when Samardzija gets the rock. And, two of those loses were by one run.
Samardzija made a great decision by choosing baseball and the Cubs over the NFL. Guaranteed money and chucking 95 mph fastballs at batters as opposed to being hit over the middle by NFL linebackers. But many, including myself, hope to see him on the gridiron in the not too distant future. I just hope it’s not the Bears, because as ex-Bears receiver Muhsin Muhammad reminded us “Chicago is where receivers go to die.”
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The Cubs took the series today from the Florida Marlins with a 9-2 victory. A huge 7th inning propelled the Cubs to the win after being down1-0 for most of the game….Ryan Dempster struck out 10 and improved to 14-5 on the year. In lieu of our guest post today, we will not be providing a full recap…but a professional recap is available by clicking here
August 18, 2008 at 7:03 pm
No problem. I’m always willing to link up to something positive about my boy. Feel free to link back.