The White Sox front office will be busy Wednesday, making a major trade announcement at 2 p.m.
The Sox players were busy Tuesday night–getting shelled and thrown out of a baseball game. The Indians scored six runs in the first inning en route to an 8-4 victory. Manager Jim Fregosi and catcher Carlton Fisk didn`t survive the inning, in which they were ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Ken Kaiser.
Sox operations chief Ken Harrelson arrived in time to watch Tuesday`s fiasco. He said there`s a reason why they had to wait until Wednesday afternoon to announce the deal, probably because a player (or players) had to clear waivers.
When asked if the trade involved a big-name player, Harrelson said: ”I can`t say anything about it. I`ll get ripped for the trade, there`s no question about it. But I like this trade.”
He added that every trade is ”a hard decision. This one is a little harder than some.”
Tuesday`s game was harder for Harrelson to watch than most. The Sox, though, did get off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first off starter Tom Candiotti (9-7), who went the distance. Greg Walker had a sacrifice fly and Ron Kittle, who later homered, added an RBI double.
But disaster struck in the bottom of the inning, when the Indians erupted for six runs off starter Richard Dotson and Gene Nelson. Fregosi and Fisk weren`t around to see all of it.
With a 2-1 count to No. 7 hitter Pat Tabler, Fisk started to argue with Kaiser. Fregosi came to the catcher`s defense, but Kaiser was quick with the thumb, ejecting Fisk. Fregosi didn`t react well to that news and promptly earned an early trip to the locker room.
Fisk envisioned a better comeback in his first start since July 7, when he was sidelined with a bad virus. He eventually had to be restrained by umpire Joe Brinkman and Fregosi before retiring to the locker room.
”I waited two weeks for this stuff,” Fisk said.
Fisk thought Kaiser made the wrong call on more than a couple of pitches. ”Dot threw a couple pitches where Kaiser`s strike zone usually is, and he called them balls,” Fisk said. ”I said, `Kenny, those were good strikes.` He said they were borderline.
”I didn`t cuss at him. We started arguing and then he says my time is up and that I`m gone. He was in a bad mood. He`s in a bad mood, and I get kicked out of the game.”
Fregosi criticized Kaiser`s conduct during the argument. He got upset when Kaiser made comments about the way Dotson was pitching, which wasn`t very good.
”He said, `What are you worried about pitches for when your guy has given up four hits?` ” Fregosi said. ”That`s really not his job to question whether the pitcher is pitching good or not. He baited me into getting kicked out of the game. He thought that was the easiest way to save him from trouble the rest of the night.”
Fisk thought Kaiser contributed to Dotson`s troubles. Dotson gave up RBI singles to Joe Carter, Mel Hall, Brook Jacoby and Tabler and left trailing 4-2 with two outs and two runners on. Both runners scored when Chris Bando doubled off Nelson.
”I thought Dot had some pitches at the knees,” Fisk said. ”Your goal is to keep the ball down, but we didn`t get the strikes tonight. Then you try to make an adjustment. Then you get the ball up, and all of a sudden you get cracked. Kaiser used to be a good low-ball ump.”
With or without Kaiser, Dotson (7-10) didn`t have his good stuff again. He has compiled a 14.89 earned run average while losing his last three starts. ”I thought Dot had good velocity, just bad location,” Fregosi said.
”He was throwing everything over the middle of the plate.”
Dotson`s poor outing didn`t do much for Fregosi`s idea to have a four-man rotation. Joel Davis was yanked Monday after pitching one-plus inning in Cleveland`s 5-2 victory. Davis was sent down to Triple A Buffalo Tuesday.
The bullpen once again had to work overtime. Nelson went 4 1/3 innings, giving up six hits and two runs. Joel McKeon mopped up with three scoreless innings.
”Both Nelson and McKeon pitched well,” Fregosi said.
The best the Sox can do now is take one out of three in Cleveland. That will break a streak for the Sox, who hadn`t been on the losing end in their previous eight series. They won six and split two.
