Can you hear the theme song from “The Twilight Zone” playing in the background? Perhaps you need to listen more closely.
The White Sox announced Sunday they had considered promoting left-handed pitcher Jim Parque from Triple-A Calgary for reliever Matt Karchner, who went on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a hernia.
But guess what?
After throwing six scoreless innings Friday night, Parque complained of pain near his groin. That too turned out to be a hernia, and both pitchers are scheduled to undergo surgery Monday in Chicago.
“It’s a two-for-one sale,” Sox General Manager Ron Schueler joked.
Sox trainer Herm Schneider had never seen a single hernia in his 20 years on the job. Now he’s got two.
“What the hell’s going on?” Sox pitcher Jaime Navarro wondered. “Is it something contagious?”
New man in town: Instead of Parque, the Sox promoted Larry Casian, a 32-year-old lefty reliever who was 1-0 with a 2.84 earned-run average in 12 games at Calgary.
“He’s a veteran guy who knows how to pitch a little bit,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “Hopefully he can fill the gap for a while.”
Casian, who made 89 apearances for the Cubs in 1995-97, struggled Sunday, allowing all three runners he faced to reach base in the eighth.
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No bad blood: Oakland catcher A.J. Hinch grew up in Waverly, Iowa, hoping to one day play for the White Sox. Hinch even had Carlton Fisk’s rookie baseball card encased next to a poem titled “Dreams.”
“He was a huge idol of mine,” Hinch said. “And you always think about what it would be like to play with Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura. There were a lot of connections, and it would have been very appealing.”
It almost happened. The Sox used their second-round pick of the 1992 draft on Hinch, who was named the national high school player of the year. Hinch wanted to sign, but his parents pushed for him to attend Stanford on a baseball scholarship and Hinch felt the Sox’s $150,000 signing bonus was too low.
So Hinch went to Stanford, but the Sox didn’t give up. They petitioned the NCAA, charging that Hinch had used an agent in the negotiating process. Hinch said a family friend had faxed a counter-offer to the Sox, but Hinch hadn’t authorized him to do so. The Sox lost the case and eventually dropped their appeal.
“That was the only sour note,” Hinch, 23, said. “But I don’t hold a grudge. Maybe I’ll play for them one day. They’ve got nice uniforms. Black is an intimidating color.”
Hinch is hitting .258 for the A’s and has four homers in his last 18 games.
Once a victim: Oakland rookie outfielder Ben Grieve can relate to the 20 Houston Astros batters who struck out against Cubs flamethrower Kerry Wood last week. Grieve faced Wood five times during high school (the two grew up 10 miles apart in Texas) and struck out twice.
“You could tell he was going to be good, maybe not that good,” Grieve said. “He had a smooth delivery and it looked like he threw hard without trying to throw hard.”
Grieve, the front-runner for American League Rookie of the Year, did exact revenge, though, hitting one home run.
Victimization: Blake Stein’s eight strikeouts were the most for an Oakland pitcher in his major-league debut. Todd Van Poppel had six in 1991 . . . also against the Sox.