Shortstop Shawon Dunston fielded ground balls before Thursday night`s game for the first time since he had back surgery in May, and, by all accounts, everything went fine.
Trainer John Fierro and manager Jim Lefebvre kept a close eye as Dunston fielded three dozen balls.
”He had no ill effects, and his attitude is very good,” said Fierro, who stood on second base and actually caught one or two of the light throws Dunston made to the bag after fielding the grounders.
Dunston was exuberant after the workout and credited his steady progress from May 13 back surgery to a daily swimming routine.
”I`m Mark Spitz and Jacques Cousteau,” said Dunston, chuckling. ”I`m going to swim every day from now on. Forget about weights. I`m going to be the first black swimmer in the Olympics and, hopefully, I`ll keep playing baseball until I`m 40 years old.”
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Dunston, 29, suffered a herniated disk last November when he lifted his daughter out of a car seat after working out with weights. For six weeks after his surgery, his exercise was limited to daily walks.
Since then, Dunston has been in physical therapy and, recently, doing light baseball drills. He says he expects to take batting practice next week. ”That will be the scary part,” Dunston said. ”If I swing and I have pain, I`ve got to stop. I can`t fool around.”
– Right-hander Shawn Boskie is scheduled to throw before Friday`s game-the first time he has thrown in 10 days. Boskie went on the disabled list July 27 with recurring tenderness in the muscles that run down his neck and under his collar bone. The Cubs originally said their doctors had discovered a minor circulation problem that might be the cause of the soreness. The circulation problem is there, but they say now it has nothing to do with the tender muscles. ”The hard part has been trying to diagnose the problem,” said Fierro. ”Right now, we`ve just let him have complete rest for 10 days, and we`ll see how it goes when he throws Friday.”
– Andre Dawson was out of the starting lineup Thursday night, in part to rest his ever-painful knees and in part to give him a chance to clear his head. Dawson is in an 8-for-68 slump that has seen his average drop from .277 to .246 since the All-Star break. ”He`s been struggling as we all know, and this is just a chance for him to relax a little bit,” said Lefebvre.
– Center-fielder Sammy Sosa left Thursday night`s game with a broken ankle suffered in his first at-bat. He fouled a ball off the ankle. Sosa stayed at the plate long enough to draw a walk but had to leave the game after he got to first base. Sosa missed 37 games from June 13 through July 26 with a broken hand. Since returning to the lineup July 27, Sosa was batting .384 (15 for 39) with three home runs and nine runs batted in.