Jose Canseco pitches 6 strong innings to knock off funky Fielders lineup

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Updated: October 27, 2011 12:30AM

A payroll dispute involving the Lake County Fielders — the Zion-based independent-league team owned in part by actor Kevin Costner — forced interim manager Pete LaCock to field a lineup mostly of pitchers Saturday against the visiting Yuma Scorpions.

The Fielders’ watered-down lineup allowed Yuma player-manager Jose Canseco to pitch six innings of one-run ball to earn the victory.

Fielders manager Tim Johnson, former skipper of the Toronto Blue Jays, abruptly resigned before the game, reportedly because the club hadn’t been keeping up with payroll. Several players joined Johnson in his walkout.

Canseco decided to keep things fair by taking the mound. The former big-league outfielder who ended his major-league career in 2001 as a designated hitter for the White Sox, faced a Fielders team that featured 11 pitchers and two catchers getting at-bats in the 8-3 Scorpions victory. He allowed five hits and struck out three.

“It shows you what kind of person Jose Canseco is,” Scorpions general manager Jose Melendez told the Yuma Sun. “He’s a good person if you ever treat him well. All Tim Johnson did was treat him well with the Blue Jays.”

Johnson managed the Blue Jays in 1998, when Canseco played in Toronto. LaCock, the former Cub, was the hitting coach before taking over for Johnson.

The Fielders were profiled Sunday in the Sun-Times after going 20-12 on a season-opening, 32-game, 11,598-mile trip.

Canseco’s Scorpions entered Saturday 13 games out of first place, but knocked off the depleted Fielders, pushing them out of first.