Pirates notebook: Cubs' Maddon doesn't expect escalation over Kang injury
CHICAGO — The last time the Pirates and Cubs met, Sept. 17 at PNC Park, Cubs utility man Chris Coghlan slid near second base with his right leg raised, colliding with Jung Ho Kang's left knee.
Kang, who ranks second on the Pirates in OPS, suffered season-ending knee and leg injuries.
Does Cubs manager Joe Maddon expect retribution at Wrigley Field?
“I would hope not. It was a good baseball play. There was nothing to cause retribution at all,” Maddon said. “For me, for us, it's a dead issue. That's it. I think the people involved within the Pirates understand that. Others that might want to fan the flames are just fanning the flames. They don't know what they are talking about.”
The play outraged many in Pittsburgh.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, while ceding the slide was within the rules, has begun to campaign for sliding rules around second base to be examined.
• Maddon was asked Friday why he initially suspected Kang was suffering from plantar fasciitis, a foot condition, and not a knee injury after the Coghlan slide. “It wasn't my thought. It was coming from the Pirates' side,” Maddon said. “I was hoping it was, so it wasn't that serious. There was no way I would ever make something like that up. That's what we had heard.”
• Andrew McCutchen walked into his hotel room here late Thursday night, flipped on the lights and saw a naked bed and a rumpled pile of sheets off to the side. McCutchen tweeted a photo of his unmade bed with the message: “#Welcome2Chicago.” Was it a bit of gamesmanship by the Cubs to throw McCutchen off his game before the crucial weekend series at Wrigley Field? “If they really wanted to do something, I think it would've been something more than, ‘Hey, don't make up his bed, heh heh heh,' ” McCutchen said with a laugh. “The (hotel staff) fixed it.”
• Triple-A Indianapolis manager Dean Treanor and Double-A Altoona manager Tom Prince joined the Pirates in Chicago. They'll be with the team the rest of the season. ... Chicago police investigated a bomb threat Friday morning at Wrigley Field. A search turned up nothing, and the game went on as scheduled, although lines at the entry gates backed up because of more thorough security.
