They would have rather played, of course. The White Sox are on a roll.
”We wanted to play,” Gene Lamont said after Thursday`s game with the Tigers was rained out after a 2 1/2-hour wait.
”You hate waiting around, and you hate playing anytime the field`s bad. But when you win three games in a row, you don`t like the game if you`re not ready to play again.”
No makeup date was announced, though it`s likely if there is a makeup, it will be in Chicago when the Tigers come to town after Labor Day.
The immediate impact is a minor adjustment in the rotation. Charlie Hough, Thursday`s scheduled starter, will try again Friday at home for his career No. 200, this time against Randy Johnson and the Seattle Mariners. Kirk McCaskill will go Saturday, and Jack McDowell will start Sunday`s game.
McDowell, after going 6 2/3 innings in Tuesday`s double-header, had been scheduled to go on short rest Saturday. This takes care of that.
– Tim Raines, who hadn`t heard about it until he arrived at Tiger Stadium Thursday, didn`t seem overly concerned about reports the Mets tried and failed to get him in a trade. ”Until a trade is made, I don`t give a (darn) what`s being said,” Raines said.
Meanwhile, Lamont said the Raines-Steve Sax flipflop had nothing to do with a prospective trade but was more a matter of just trying something.
The early result: Sax is 5 for 12 plus three walks and has scored four runs in the three games since the change, Raines is 7 for 15 with five RBIs. The Sox are 3-0.
– Lance Johnson, during his current 14-game hitting streak, is batting .455
(25 for 55), .429 over the last 20 games. He has been successful on nine of 10 stolen base attempts. Nobody is playing a better center field. As late as July 6, he was at .253; now he`s at .291 and climbing.
”I don`t know what it is,” said Johnson. ”I don`t care what it is. I`m playing like I did when I was in Triple-A. That`s nice.”
In three Triple-A seasons, Johnson-a .271 lifetime hitter in the big leagues-hit .333, .307 and .304.
– Robin Ventura, after being with his wife, Stephanie, Wednesday for the birth of their daughter, was in Detroit and in the starting lineup Thursday, even though Lamont gave him no edict. ”I didn`t know if he was coming,” Lamont said, ”but it didn`t surprise me when I saw him.”
Ventura, naturally, was aglow in the clubhouse.
”It was unbelievable,” Ventura said. ”I have a new appreciation for women.”
– Speculation in Detroit: Sparky Anderson will take the Tigers` $1.5 million buyout, then surface in Los Angeles next year as manager of the Dodgers. Anderson`s off-season home is Thousand Oaks, Calif.
