Cubs Manager Lou Piniella critical of Blue Jays and Rays FieldTurf

The topic was also broached in Chicago when the Cubs recently took a six-game trip to Toronto and Tampa Bay. Carlos Zambrano is hitting .362 with a homer and six RBIs this year, but manager Lou Piniella ultimately decided against batting his pitching ace.

Piniella instead used the DH to give stars like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez a reprieve from the field.

“I know I have to use Zambrano occasionally as a pinch-hitter, but believe me, I like the idea of just having hitters do the hitting and pitchers do the pitching,” Piniella told WGN Radio.
It wasn’t the hitting alone that worried Piniella. Both the Blue Jays and the Rays play on an artificial surface,

“It’s a little different playing on Astroturf,” Piniella said. “It bothers your knees a little more, it bothers your back a little more, so we don’t want any problems with any of our starting pitchers as far as injuries are concerned.”