Just the other day, Ivan Calderon was ready to call it a season. Puerto Rico had been hit hard by Hurricane Hugo, houses owned by family members were in ruins and everything within him told him he was needed at home.
He was going to ask permission Monday to leave the team. Then there was a phone call.
”My family is okay now,” said Calderon. ”I talked to my wife last night, and she said everything`s okay.”
There was a smile.
”Now,” said Calderon, ”I can go for maybe 180 hits and go for 90 RBI.”
He almost got there Monday as the White Sox crushed the Minnesota Twins 10-2 in front of 6,975 pleasantly chilled people in Comiskey Park.
Calderon, who started the game with 173 hits and 82 runs batted in, drove in four runs with a single, a triple and a ground ball. The four RBI tied his season high and pushed him three past last season`s career best-all numbers that are sure to come up when, and if, Calderon goes through arbitration after the season.
All the Calderon RBI came off Minnesota starter Mark Guthrie (2-3), one of several young Minnesota pitchers who have struggled lately. Richard Dotson (5-11), a not-so-young pitcher who hasn`t struggled lately, went seven innings for the victory.
The Sox jumped on Guthrie for five runs in the first two innings.
In the first, Lance Johnson led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a bunt single by Scott Fletcher. Johnson scored and Fletcher was safe at second when second-baseman Chip Hale dropped Gary Gaetti`s toss on Calderon`s roller.
Carlton Fisk walked, filling the bases for Sammy Sosa, whose line fly scored Fletcher. Russ Morman`s flyball sent Calderon home, and it was 3-0.
The Sox made it 5-0 in the second, again with a little help. Ozzie Guillen singled with one out, and he was safe at second when shortstop Greg Gagne lost the ball in his glove and flipped too late to Hale. Fletcher`s ground ball moved the runners up a base, and both scored when Calderon singled to center.
Minnesota nicked Dotson for a run in the fourth on a leadoff walk to Randy Bush and Gene Larkin`s double. But in the bottom half, a single by Fletcher, Calderon`s triple and Sosa`s second sacrifice fly made it 7-1.
Dotson wasn`t exactly breezing. The Twins had base runners in every inning but the third, and Guillen`s leaping catch robbed Dan Gladden of a hit in that one.
The Sox continued to pound away, adding three more runs in the seventh off German Gonzalez. Sosa started it with a double, and Morman got him home with a single.
The only drama after that was Ken Patterson`s first appearance since he suffered an injury near his pitching shoulder Sept. 8 in Detroit. He came in after Dotson filled the bases starting off the eighth, struck out two around a sacrifice fly to Larkin and erased any self-doubts about his recovery.
