Manager Don Zimmer benched slumping rookie Gary Scott Wednesday night and told him to ”take it easy for a while.”
Scott came into Wednesday night`s game hitting just .136 (6 for 44) and had just one hit and four strikeouts in his last 16 at-bats. He`s not the only slump-ridden Cub-Damon Berryhill, hitting .143, also sat-but he`s the only one who`s a rookie.
Zimmer figured a night off would give him a chance to breathe, though he did insert Scott for defensive purposes in the seventh inning after starting third baseman Luis Salazar had gone 0 for 3.
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”If we were winning, that would take the pressure off him,” Zimmer said. ”But we`re losing. That`s going to add pressure, and he knows it.”
Scott has opened the season with slumps before. But the world wasn`t watching on cable television when he stumbled out of the gate at Class-A Winston-Salem last spring.
”At my 36th at-bat last year, I had four hits,” he said. ”At my 36th at-bat this year I had six. I`m getting better.”
But don`t think for a minute that Scott is laughing about it all. He bristled at a comparison to the White Sox`s Robin Ventura, who went through an 0 for 41 slump early last year.
”It`s not something I`m going to panic about,” Scott said. ”I think
(teammates) can tell by my attitude that I`m not laying down and crying.”
Smith still sore: Closer Dave Smith rested for the second straight game Wednesday with tenderness in his right tricep.
”The swelling is down, but I`m not going to take a chance,” Zimmer said. ”It might be OK by (Thursday).”
Smith said the pain was related to a weight-lifting injury he suffered in Houston. It flared up Monday, when he gave up a game-winning home run to Felix Jose in the ninth inning. That was Smith`s third outing in four days, each resulting in a blown save and a Cubs defeat. Smith`s ERA is 9.53.