If you had seen Oscar Gamble batting Monday, you`d be betting that he is a shoo-in to make the White Sox.
He was not spectacular, with only a single in four at-bats in the Sox`s 5-1 defeat to Toronto. But the designated hitter hit the ball with authority in the afternoon game and in batting practice, when he hit three balls over the fence.
”He puts a charge in it, doesn`t he?” manager Tony LaRussa said of the left-handed slugger after his first exhibition game this year. ”And, yet, he`s not very big.”
Gamble, 35, says ”bat speed” is the reason he still can drive the ball so well. He hadn`t hit a ball all winter until last week when he showed up in the Sox camp. He obviously does not need a long time to prepare himself.
”My timing is still off,” he said, pointing to a warning-track fly out to right field his second at-bat. He barely missed getting all of the ball and clearing the fence for a homer.
”It`ll take me a little while to get the bat on the change-ups and breaking balls. But it felt good to me today. With my bat quickness, all I`m doing now is trying to jump on whatever comes to me.”
Gamble played without a uniform number Monday because he still hasn`t decided which one he wants on his back. The Sox offered him Greg Luzinski`s old number 19, but he is holding out for a number with a 7 in it. ”Maybe I can get that after we make the cuts,” he said confidently.
He`s partial to the number 7 because he was the seventh child in his family.
— Julio Cruz played nine innings at second base against the Blue Jays in his first exhibition game of the spring. He made a nice play going to his left to field a ground ball and, as he was falling, flipped to shortstop Jerry Dybzinski for the force out at second base.
”My knee doesn`t bother me at all,” said Cruz, who underwent arthroscopic surgery in February. ”But the (right) foot is killing me.”
Cruz had off-season surgery near his big toe to remove calcium deposits that cropped up last season. Trainer Herman Schneider had to tape Cruz`s toe heavier Monday to cushion it in the game.
”And I wore rubber spikes for the first time to try and make it softer,” said Cruz. ”But it still hurt me when I used that foot to take off.”
He reached base once in four at-bats when an infield error put him on first. But he was the front end of a double-play grounder by Gamble, so he didn`t get to test the foot very much running the bases.
”I think I was tested, though,” stressed Cruz. ”I was anxious the first time that I came to bat. I was glad to get that at-bat out of the way.” — LaRussa said he will see how much Cruz stiffens up this week from beginning to exercise more, and use that to determine how much he`ll play in future games. But he expects to use Gamble every day as a DH or pinch-hitter. — Reliever Ron Reed had a so-so effort against the Jays, giving up two runs in his two innings and not advancing in the right-hander`s race to repel challenges from youngsters Steve Fireovid and Al Jones for a relief role.
”I think I`ll see he gets in earlier in the game next time,” explained pitching coach Dave Duncan, ”so I can put him against front-liners. Maybe that`ll get his adrenalin pumping and he will have a better idea how to pitch to those guys than the reserves.”
— Bart Johnson gave up two hits in his ninth-inning effort, but kept the Jays from scoring. However, Duncan has his doubts whether he can honestly recommend Johnson be sent to Triple A to continue his comeback attempt.
”I`d have to expect to use him sometime during the season to recommend he go to Triple A, and I don`t think I can do that if there are four or five guys ahead of him I`d rather pitch in Buffalo,” Duncan said.
”He is an excellent advance scout and he might help us win more with that job.”
— Left-hander Bob Fallon`s bid to make the team was hurt Monday night in St. Petersburg when he gave up all the runs in the New York Mets` 6-1 victory. Fallon pitched four innings, allowing nine hits and walking four. Before this game, he had limited opponents to no runs and five hits in 10 innings.
— Outfielder Kenny Williams, a star of the future, scored the Sox`s only run with his third homer, an inside-the-park job.
