LaPoint Looking for Help

Fernando Valenzuela, with an earned-run average of 2.39, has a record of only 5-7. That’s tough to take, but he won’t get any sympathy from Dave LaPoint.

LaPoint, with the San Francisco Giants, has a an ERA of 2.32 and a

record of 2-6. He could use some help but he doesn’t seen any forthcoming.

Here’s what he had to say after Sunday’s 5-0 loss to Houston, which completed a three-game sweep by the Astros: “If you have trouble with insomnia, you should bring a pillow to our dugout. Nobody would bother you. There’s no yelling. Nobody wants to win.

“Some guys are already planning their winter vacation. If we go six months with this group, we’ll go 30 games under .500.”

Add Giants: Asked about San Francisco Manager Jim Davenport, ex-manager Frank Robinson, now a Baltimore coach, told Bob Padecky of the Sacramento Bee: “From having him as my third base coach for two years and in his other job as advance scout, I got to know him as far as baseball knowledge was concerned. He’s a nice guy, but in my judgment he is not a good baseball man.”

Last Add Giants: Bob Sudyk of the Hartford Courant reports that this exchange was overheard in the Giant locker room after a game:

“I’ve got to go back to the hotel, I forgot my razor.”

“Use my Norelco.”

“No thanks, I’ll take a cab.”

Add Sudyk: He recalls when former catcher Duke Sims told an elderly woman he played baseball, she said: “Is it remunerative?”

Said Sims: “Oh, no, not if you stay in shape.”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Said Larry Bird April 22, scoffing at contentions K.C. Jones wasn’t giving his starters enough rest: “That’s all bull. I can go 48 minutes and still go out and run five miles the same night. Plus, when you get to the playoffs, it’s a whole different thing. There’s plenty of time to rest because there are so many TV timeouts.”

Said Bird Monday when asked how he would prepare for next season: “I don’t know if I’m going to start practicing tomorrow. I’m a little bit more tired than I have been before. This season, I’m fatigued.”

The Chicago Tribune reports that Frank Batton of the American Newspaper Publishers Assn., introducing Peter Ueberroth at a luncheon in Chicago, said he had heard of a drug testing program at a minor league club that was working exceptionally well.

“One of the reasons,” said Batton, keeping a straight face, “was that the team had a designated urinator.”

Said Detroit Pistons Coach Chuck Daly after being dropped from consideration as the new coach of the Philadelphia 76ers: “Obviously, I was interested. I know the Philadelphia area extremely well and I like it there. But in this business, you learn to really love it where they sign your paycheck.”

Joe Axelson, general manager of the new Sacramento Kings, told Joe Hamelin of the Sacramento Bee about how he thought he got a bargain when the Kings, then in Kansas City, drafted UCLA All-American Richard Washington in 1976.

“One of the nicest kids I ever saw,” Axelson said. “Loved him. Drafted him. Talked to him beforehand. Sure was a nice kid. And a great college player.

“But he thought the NBA was an art form. He never did understand it’s a war.”

Quotebook

General Manager Pat Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers, on 265-pound forward Charles Barkley: “For his 12th birthday his parents got him a Shetland pony. He carried it out back and barbecued it.”