Bobby Thigpen finally took a day off on Sunday after saving three straight games.
Thigpen has pitched 72 2/3 innings and is on a pace for 90, which would tie a career high. He likes lots of work but admits there`s a limit to what he can do.
”It would have to be regulated,” he said. ”I couldn`t go an inning every day for the rest of the season. If we get close enough down the stretch, I might have to the last week or 10 days.”
More Top Picks Best Hose Nozzle
Asked how often he plans to use his closer down the stretch, manager Jeff Torborg grinned and said, ”Every day.”
That might not be much of an exaggeration.
Third choice: A series of late moves left the White Sox without a third baseman, but Torborg was ready. His choice: Ivan Calderon.
”Ivan takes ground balls over there every day,” Torborg said. ”I wish I had seen him out there.”
Little-known fact: Calderon made the Midwest League All-Star team as a shortstop in 1982 with Seattle`s Class-A Wausau affiliate, and he played 25 games at third for Double-A Chattanooga in `83.
Calderon seemed stunned to hear Torborg`s plans, but he said he would have been ready.
”I can pick it like Ozzie (Guillen), but I have trouble throwing over there,” Calderon said.
By the numbers: Sammy Sosa singled twice to raise his batting average to .236, but he also struck out once Sunday and has 123 on the year, almost one per game. . . . Matt Stark singled for his first hit since 1987. . . . Frank Thomas is 3 for 17 with 8 strikeouts since hitting his first big- league homer.
Bloom off Rose: Steve Rosenberg wants to use the last month of the season to ”get back in the picture.”
He doesn`t know yet whether that picture will be in Chicago. Left-handed pitchers always draw interest, and Rosenberg said he was heavily scouted this summer at Triple-A Vancouver. Houston reportedly scouted him heaviest.
Rosenberg counted himself as part of the Sox`s rotation after making 21 starts in 1989, but he was demoted during spring training. He went 6-5 with a 3.57 ERA at Vancouver.
”Bitterness set in,” he said. ”I guess you can`t take it for granted any more.”