BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : Chicago Warms Up to Baseball This Time

How cold was it in Comiskey Park Saturday night? Angel reliever Mike James stepped onto the field for batting practice and asked, “Where do I get my lift ticket?” Catcher Jorge Fabregas kept a hot-water bottle on the bench, “so I could feel my hands,” he said.

In other words, it was about as cold--46 degrees, 12-mph winds--as it was Friday, when the White Sox postponed the game against the Angels because of inclement weather five hours before it was supposed to start.

The joke going around Comiskey Saturday was that it sure seemed a lot warmer because the Chicago Bulls weren’t playing. Many speculated the real reason the White Sox postponed Friday night’s game was that the Bulls-Miami Heat playoff game would drastically cut into the baseball gate.

“It was a total farce,” Angel pitcher Mark Langston said. “We could have played that game.”

*

Angel bullpen catcher Mick Billmeyer, summoned by stadium security personnel to help subdue a fan who jumped onto the field in the seventh inning Saturday, wound up in a grueling scuffle.

“I got him in a headlock and held him down, and the guy tried to bite me,” Billmeyer said. “The whole time I’m thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into? I just know this is going to be on T.V.’ ”

As the fan was dragged off the field and into the Angel bullpen, Billmeyer had second thoughts about his participation. “I don’t make enough money to be doing that,” he said.

*

Manager Marcel Lachemann’s hamstring injury wasn’t the only pregame coaching casualty Saturday. White Sox batting instructor Bill Buckner was hit in the face by a ball in the batting cage, and it took 10 stitches to close a cut under his left eye. . . . Chili Davis’ second-inning homer Saturday was the first homer allowed by White Sox pitchers in 51 innings. Chicago’s pitching staff leads the American League in earned-run average (4.09).