Dan Pasqua, sidelined since April 6 with a broken bone in his right wrist, could return in two weeks. ”By the X-rays, it looks like we`re a little ahead of schedule,” trainer Herm Schneider said. ”It`s filling in. It`s healing.”
Pasqua narrowly missed another serious injury Thursday evening, when a line drive off the bat of Ivan Calderon during batting practice caught him on the back of the right shoulder.
Manager Jeff Torborg was asked if Pasqua, who had a blistering spring, might be sent to the minors for rehabilitation. ”If we watch him swing and he needed it, maybe,” Torborg said.
– Greg Walker took batting practice again Thursday, but he`s still unable to run very well because of a strained left leg muscle. Schneider said he was ”hopeful” Walker would be able to return to the lineup before the end of the homestand this weekend.
”I don`t know what they want to do,” Walker said. ”I want to play.”
– Surgery to place a plate in Carlton Fisk`s broken hand was successful.
– Dave Gallagher`s 13-game hitting streak matches the Sox`s longest last season, by Harold Baines.
– Torborg and pitching coach Sammy Ellis haven`t decided whether they`ll skip Bill Long in the rotation Tuesday when the Sox open a six-game East Coast trip in Boston. Long hasn`t made it past the fifth inning in each of his last two starts. His earned-run average has jumped to 6.75.
”If we bypassed him in Boston, we can use him in New York,” Torborg said. ”Historically, he`s been strong against the Yankees.”
Long is 2-1 with a 2.85 ERA against the Yankees, and his first major-league victory was a two-hit shutout of New York in May, 1987. But Long doesn`t like the idea of being skipped. ”I want to pitch again as soon as possible,” he said.
– Ron Kittle started at first base for the first time in his career Thursday as Torborg toyed with his lineup. Billy Jo Robidoux, who`s hitting .130 as Walker`s replacement, was given the night off. Kittle hit cleanup for the first time this season and the usual No. 4 man, Ivan Calderon, dropped to fifth. ”It`s just making a little change,” Torborg said. ”We got stuck in a rut.”
– For the second series this season, the Sox will miss Mariners ace Mark Langston, but that`s not such good news. The left-hander has piled up more than 200 strikeouts in four of his five seasons, but he has been anything but dominant against the Sox (6-6, 3.69 ERA). Last year, the Sox beat him in both his decisions against them and scored 14 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings. One Sox who`s sad to miss Langston is Eddie Williams, who has a double and a single in three career at-bats against him.
