He’s Just as Young as He Feels

Tom Lasorda doesn’t look any different, but the Dodger manager says he’s feeling great these days, and not just because he again has a team that can score some runs.

Lasorda, 60, says it’s either his new diet or his travel schedule.

“Let me tell you, I gave up diet soft drinks and I gave up coffee,” Lasorda told Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News. “Why I gave it up, I don’t know. I gave up booze. Why? I don’t know. What are those things I gave up that have made me feel this great, that’s what I want to know.

“Then I stopped to think about it and realized why I feel so good. You know I go from the West Coast and you always gain three hours? I traveled so much this winter that I . . . gained three years. I’m only 57!”

Add Lasorda: One thing Lasorda hasn’t given up is pasta.

When a post-game meal of linguine arrived at the Dodgers’ clubhouse, Lasorda said: “Lay it up on the table so I can look at it. This is five bucks worth of pasta. I go to a restaurant in Westwood and pay $18 for a plate of spaghetti that ain’t worth a . . . Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles . . . I got my car washed about two weeks before spring training. It cost me $33 to get my car washed in Beverly Hills. Yeah! See, they washed it with Perrier water.”

Last add Lasorda: The manager was telling reporters why Pedro Guerrero is happy playing third base when, as if on cue, Guerrero walked into the manager’s office.

“Pete, I was telling the story about (why he is happy). He’s happy. I guarantee you he’s happy. I’ve got a film I show him every once in a while. It’s from San Pedro de Macoris when he was thinking about the days when he might have to cut that sugar cane down there. And he sees those carts go by with the oxens, the big oxens pulling the cart full of sugar cane and Pete says, ‘You’re . . . right I’m happy.’

“Now this (guy) can go down and buy San Pedro de Macoris. He can buy the whole . . . town.”

Guerrero passed behind Lasorda and made a loco sign with his right hand.

Tongue twister: Broadcaster Tim McCarver is getting a lot of laughs from the line “Biancalana to Beniquez to Balboni” in his deodorant commercial.

McCarver said it took him 20 takes to get it right.

Twenty-seven years ago today, the Angels won their first major league game with a 7-2 victory over the Orioles at Baltimore. The late Ted Kluszewski had a pair of homers for the Angels.

Quotebook

Former Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce, still seeking a college football coaching job: “I’m like a vulture waiting for somebody to get fired or resign.”