Rookie right-hander Lester Lancaster will receive his first major-league start Wednesday night against the Mets` John Mitchell because Dickie Noles, who was scheduled to start, has a sore finger on his pitching hand. ”We don`t want to take a chance with Dickie,” said Cubs manager Gene Michael. ”We might be able to use him out of the bullpen a little bit.”
Lancaster has a broken finger on his left hand. ”I slammed my helmet down on the bat rack the other night,” he said. ”I pitched six innings Saturday with it. It`s a good thing I`m right-handed.”
Catcher Jody Davis returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing a game with a sore ankle. He fouled a ball off his left ankle Sunday. ”He hasn`t hit very well lately, but he`s still tough,” said Michael.
The Mets plan to send pitcher Rick Aguilera to their Triple-A Tidewater team to rehabilitate his injured right elbow. Aguilera was placed on the disabled list May 30 (retroactive to May 21) with a sprained medial collateral ligament of the right elbow. He threw 51 pitches in a simulated game last Saturday.
Andre Dawson said he planned to meet with his agent, Dick Moss, after Tuesday night`s game. Asked if he planned to testify in this week`s baseball collusion hearings in New York, Dawson replied, ”He hasn`t said anything about that to me yet.”
Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez is letting his mustache grow back. He had shaved it off for the first time in six years in Chicago two weeks ago.
”I was tired of looking at myself in the mirror,” said Hernandez.
Michael was amused by the fact that Mets manager Davey Johnson and right-fielder Darryl Strawberry were not speaking to each other for about a week. The two have since made up.
Asked if he ever had a player who wouldn`t talk to him, Michael said,
”No, but we`ve all had a wife who wouldn`t talk, or talks too much.”
Said Johnson: ”Darryl hit better when he was mad at me.”
