A Case of Bite Being as Bad as Barkley

Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, who has shown that he can play and talk a good game, was at it again Tuesday night.

Inspired by a comment at practice implying that he could be handled by Milwaukee’s Larry Krystowiak, Barkley bulled his way to 34 points--he made 15 of 16 shots--and 12 rebounds in a 124-102 romp over the Bucks.

Barkley, who was held to 19 points a game, seven under his season average, in three previous games against the Bucks, told the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call: “I don’t appreciate it when people say Larry Krystowiak can stop me.

“I find a comment like that to be humorous. Larry is a good player and a good friend of mine. He’s a nice man. But he can’t stop me. No one man on the planet can stop me. Maybe not the universe either.”

The thing is, he’s probably right.

Trivia time: Roger Clemens Thursday became the fourth Boston Red Sox pitcher in history to reach the 1,000-strikeout mark. Luis Tiant, with 1,075, and Bruce Hurst, with 1,043, are two others. Name the leader.

Padded room: Right fielder Ron Jones of the Philadelphia Phillies made a fine catch Tuesday night at New York to deny Dave Magadan of the Mets an extra-base hit and save at least two runs.

Jones paid for it by apparently dislocating his right kneecap after crashing into the hard wall. Even the New York players were sympathetic.

“I guess they don’t make enough money here to pad the outfield walls,” one Met told Newsday.

Author! Author!: The great run of Orel Hershiser, the Dodger pitcher and Cy Young Award winner, continues.

His book, “Out of the Blue,” written with Jerry B. Jenkins, will be No. 5 on the New York Times’ best-seller list next week in the hard-cover nonfiction category. Since the first printing of 100,000, the publisher has requested another 80,000 copies, and in another month or so the rights to the paperback version are expected to be auctioned for at least six figures.

Not bad, considering that Hershiser’s book was not published by a major house. Hershiser went with Wolgemuth & Hyatt, a Christian publishing company in Brentwood, Tenn., after meeting its partners, Robert Wolgemuth and Michael Hyatt.

Said the Times: “They hit it off, perhaps because the company publishes evangelical books and Mr. Hershiser is a member of the evangelical Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, Calif.”

Yeah, perhaps.

Now it can be told: In 1980, Bob Kennedy, then the general manager of the Chicago Cubs, called Whitey Herzog, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, and asked if he would be interested in managing the Cubs.

“He told me they were only two players away from being a contender,” Herzog said. “I figured it would take more than that. But one reason I didn’t want to manage the Cubs was they played all day games and I wouldn’t be able to go fishing in the mornings.”

Trivia answer: Cy Young, who had 1,341 strikeouts.

Quotebook: Football Coach Mike Price of Washington State, who left Weber State after eight seasons to take over the Cougars six weeks ago, asked if there was anything not progressing as quickly as he would like this spring: “The sale of my house in Ogden (Utah).”