White Sox outfielder Darrin Jackson was scheduled for a magnetic resonance imaging test Sunday night to determine the extent of shin splints that have made him a part-time player for nearly a week.
The right leg, he said, is really hurting.
“It’s like a toothache down in my leg,” he said Sunday. “It aches and it’s weak. It was fine until we got on the AstroTurf in Minnesota. Seattle didn’t help.”
Cub All-Star: The news he had made the National League All-Star team didn’t exactly bowl Randy Myers over. He knew somebody had to represent the Cubs and it would probably be him.
The biggest question he had, though, was how he could make the team this year and not last season?
“It’s nice. You gotta go there and represent your team the best you can,” said Myers. “But I felt I had the numbers to make it there last year. I had 27 saves at the All-Star break then. This year I’ve got 17. If you can’t make it with 27, how can you make it with 17?”
Nevertheless, Myers was pleased and excited to make the team for the second time. The last time was with the Reds in 1990, when he loaded the bases and then got out of the jam.
“I’ll just try to go there to represent the Cubs,” he said. “But we’ve still got eight games to go. I’m more concerned about being ready for those games right now.”
Myers had planned to be in Pittsburgh, anyway, for the All-Star break. He is the Cubs’ player representative and is scheduled to attend the union meetings.
Still nice: The only way being named an All-Star could have been more special for Jason Bere is if he would have shared the American League clubhouse with boyhood idol Roger Clemens. “Maybe that way I’d get to talk to him,” said Bere. “But there will be all kinds of other guys that are going to be there. It’s going to be a good time.
Timing: The Sox haven’t had two All-Star starting pitchers since Gary Peters and Joel Horlen in 1967. They last had two pitchers in 1975, when Jim Kaat and Goose Gossage made the team. . . . If the rotation holds, Bere and Wilson Alvarez will be fresh for the July 12 classic.
Curious: Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen, who has played baseball in Colombia, suspects there was more to the shooting death of Colombian soccer star Andres Escobar than a fan’s rage. “They don’t kill people because they lost the game,” said Guillen, who guessed gambling was somehow involved. “They don’t love the game that much.”
Cub killers: The Astros have hit 13 homers against the Cubs in eight games this year. They had four Sunday-one each by Craig Biggio and James Mouton and two by Ken Caminiti, the second of which was a three-run inside-the-park comedy on a play where Sammy Sosa fell down in right field.
Gonzo mania: Houston left-fielder Luis Gonzalez had seven RBIs in the four-game series.
Tender wing: Anthony Young, who left his last start Wednesday with a tender elbow and is wearing an elastic brace, says he is ready to go against the Rockies in Game 1 of Monday’s double-header. Young (3-6) is winless in his last six starts and is 0-1 with a 6.14 earned-run average against Colorado.
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Deja vu: The Cubs are playing a July 4 double-header for the first time since 1983. Montreal swept that one. The Cubs went on to a 71-91 record that year. After Sunday’s loss, the Cubs are on a pace to finish 69-93.
Pennant drive: The Astros have introduced a marketing scheme called “Race for the pennant” that allows fans to buy tickets to any 12 remaining home games this season. Maybe the Cubs can come up with a package called the “Race for the cellar.” They already are last in the NL Central, but still have to catch the San Diego Padres for worst record in the majors.