Kevin Tapani said the sore knee that forced him out of Friday’s 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds will not cause him to miss a turn in the rotation.
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Kerry Wood, however, will miss at least one more turn. Wood, on the disabled list since July 30 with a strained left rib cage, was penciled in to start Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. But the start was pushed back after he was examined by team physician Michael Schafer.
Wood, who missed all of last season after reconstructive elbow surgery, has been on the disabled list since he hurt his rib cage while running.
He said he hasn’t thrown in four days and that his left side hurts when he coughs or attempts to pitch.
“His side is just not ready for pitching,” trainer Dave Tumbas said. “I’ve seen this injury last from two to six weeks. Tony Pena, the catcher, was out six weeks. He kept trying to come back too soon.”
Tumbas issued medical updates on two other disabled-list players, pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez and third baseman Shane Andrews, who recently began minor-league rehabilitation work. Andrews’ report was good. Gonzalez had a setback.
Gonzalez, 25, had an 18-17 record in 1997-98 but has had right elbow surgery twice in the last two years. He pitched to two batters on a rehab assignment for the Cubs’ Class A Lansing team and struck out both of them. But he withdrew after 12 pitches because he sustained the same type of rib cage injury that Wood has.
After three games with Class AAA Iowa, Andrews is having no trouble with his lower back, which required surgery June 6.
A good Joe: Catcher Joe Girardi played for the first time since Aug. 5 when he was struck in the nose at San Diego by a pitch from Woody Williams, returned to the lineup.
“Each time at bat, I felt more comfortable,” Girardi said.
Girardi played the entire game and was 0 for 4.
“It was good to be back,” he said. “I felt a little rusty. My legs felt creaky at first. We made mistakes, and they hit them. It doesn’t always go that way, but today [it did].”
On Tap: Tapani pitched magnificently before the sore knee forced him from he game with two on, nobody out and the Cubs leading 4-0 in the top of the eighth. He allowed six hits, struck out five, walked none and located 82 of 117 pitches in the strike zone.
“I’ll be all right. I won’t miss a turn,” Tapani said. “Give it a couple of days and it will calm down.”
Tapani said he hit first base awkwardly when he took a toss from Mark Grace to retire Dmitri Young in the fourth inning.
“It started there, and then in the seventh, I got on base and had to run,” Tapani said. “I didn’t signal for them to come out and would have stayed in if they hadn’t come out.”
Tumbas and manager Don Baylor came to the mound and took the ball from Tapani.
Numbers: Friday’s crowd of 40,586 was the largest of the season and pushed the Cubs’ total to 1,977,974. A crowd of at least 22,026 Saturday will boost the Cubs over the 2 million mark for the 14th time. . . . Eric Young stole his 39th and 40th bases and ran his streak of successful steals to 14. . . . Sammy Sosa’s 36th homer was No. 372 of his career. He needs two more to tie Rocky Colavito for 47th on the career list.