Eric King will try to throw off the mound on Friday, White Sox head trainer Herm Schneider said Tuesday.
King, who has been sidelined all month with a sore shoulder, threw without pain Tuesday for the second day in a row. He`ll throw again on Wednesday and take Thursday off.
The Sox still can`t estimate when King will return to the rotation. It`s likely the club will send him to the minor leagues for a rehabilitation assignment, as it did during the month he missed with shoulder pain last year.
”A start somewhere would be good,” King said.
Sox deny story: The Sox denied a published report that they waited 1/2 hours to call Sunday`s game because they didn`t want a home game tacked on at the end of the season. The report said the club feared the extra game would ruin the celebration surrounding the last weekend in Comiskey Park Sept. 28-30. Board Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said he tried to persuade American League President Bobby Brown to move the game to Oct. 4, the day after the regular season ends. ”I pleaded with him,” Reinsdorf said.
A`s are watching: The frontrunning Oakland A`s, who come to Comiskey Park for three games next week, had special assignment scout Ron Schueler in the grandstand Tuesday night to track the Sox.
Go figure: Lefty-swinging Lance Johnson can`t understand why he`s hitting better against left-handed pitchers than right-handers. ”I wish I was hitting better against righties,” he said. ”There are more righties.”
Candy man on tap: The Blue Jays have replaced John Cerutti with John Candelaria as Wednesday night`s starter. One reason might be that Candelaria is 8-1 lifetime with a 2.52 earned-run average against the Sox. Candelaria, pitching for his sixth team, is 7-4 with a 3.56 ERA. Wednesday will be only his second start in 45 appearances this year.
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