Pipe, schmipe: Hendry doesn’t care

As if the Los Angeles Dodgers needed one more laugh at the Chicago Cubs’ expense, Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry said Wednesday that his club would make restitution for a broken water pipe that was busted in the visitors’ clubhouse following Chicago’s 3-1 loss at Dodgers Stadium last Saturday.

As if taking away the Cubs’ postseason hopes and spirits weren’t enough, now the Dodgers apparently are about to take their money as well.

On a teleconference with reporters Wednesday, Hendry acknowledged the report of the busted pipe -- first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times -- and said he spoke with Dodgers officials and told them the Cubs would take responsibility for all damages.

“To me,” Hendry said, “when I saw it happen, before we left I spoke to the Dodger people and told them if there was any damage, we’d certainly be accountable for it.

“The clubhouse people informed me that it was about the fourth or fifth time it happened this year. I guess it was just a nozzle knocked off the piping of the wall and it’s probably in a convenient spot when you’re leaving the dugout to smack it.”

Hendry said that no permanent damage was done to the Dodgers’ facility, which is now the third oldest in baseball behind Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field. He added that he would have been “disappointed” with some Cubs players if they weren’t angry with themselves or the results: a 3-0 series sweep.

“The flipside of that would have been … if nothing happened and somebody would have smiled at somebody on their way out, then they would have been portrayed as (not caring) enough,” Hendry said.

So who did it? Hendry doesn’t know, nor does he seem to care -- quite understandable given his team’s most recent playoff calamity.

“No idea,” Hendry said. “And I don’t have any interest in finding out. To me, it’s not even an issue. Believe me, if I’d have been in uniform, it might have been me.”