March 20--GLENDALE, Ariz. -- White Sox right-hander Jeff Samardzija won't be on the mound Friday when his new club meets his former Cubs in a sold-out Cactus League game at Camelback Ranch.
But he doesn't anticipate feeling too out of sorts in the Sox's games this season against the Cubs, the team that drafted him in 2006 and traded him to the A's midway through last season.
"I'm not really too worried about that right now," Samardzija said. "That happens as it comes, but ultimately you're out there to do your job. You're out there to do it every day, regardless of who your opponent is."
Samardzija, who grew up in Northwest Indiana, remembers when the Cubs-Sox rivalry was bigger among fans than it has been the last few seasons while the teams were unsuccessful, though he said the games still meant a lot to the players. With both teams projected to be on the upswing, there is hope the rivalry can be stoked.
"I still think within teams (no matter how good they are) you want to win that series against your hometown rival," Samardzija said. "I think from dugout to dugout, they were just as intense as exciting as they were before. Maybe there just wasn't the outside attention that those games usually get.
"As a baseball player, any time the stands are filled it's what you want. You want excitement. You want passion in every game. When those games do happen, it's always a little bit more exciting."
Along with another spring training meeting March 27 at Sloan Park, the Cubs and Sox play July 10-12 at Wrigley Field and Aug. 14-16 at U.S. Cellular Field. Should Samardzija be set for any of those outings, he will be ready to pitch, just as he was when he started for the Cubs against the Sox.
"Anything can happen in a game, but I was ready to pitch those games," Samardzija said. "I enjoyed pitching at the Cell. It feels like home to me. ... When you get that many people coming out to your games and you're leaving that many tickets, you better show up, or else you're going to have some answers, especially to your pops after the game on what happened."
