BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Worrell Didn’t Waste Much Time

It took Todd Worrell about two minutes to get three outs and a standing ovation.

“I haven’t had anyone tell me I threw the ball well in a long time,” Worrell said one day after his first outing for the St. Louis Cardinals in more than 18 months. “I can see down the line that I can be an effective reliever again.”

Worrell, who underwent elbow surgery, hasn’t pitched during the regular season since Sept. 6, 1989. So the morning after was perhaps the most important aspect of his pitching line after setting the Dodgers down in order in the seventh inning of Thursday’s exhibition at St. Petersburg, Fla. “I feel good, nothing unusual,” Worrell said Friday. “Of course, there couldn’t have been too much pain.” He required only five pitches.

Bud Harrelson, who said at the start of spring training that he didn’t want to pick a No. 1 catcher, apparently changed his mind Friday. The New York Met manager said Charlie O’Brien will start ahead of Mackey Sasser, primarily because Sasser still is having problems throwing the ball back to the mound. “I thought it had gone away, but it hasn’t,” Harrelson said of Sasser’s throwing problem. “I want to be patient, but I’ve got a season to prepare for. If he could find a system that works, I wouldn’t care.” . . . Former UCLA outfielder Tony Scruggs, a rookie with Texas, and former USC infielder Bret Barberie, now with Montreal, played key roles Friday. Scruggs hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning as the Rangers beat Pittsburgh, 13-10. An error by third baseman Barberie in the 10th inning led to Atlanta’s 3-2 victory over the Expos. . . . Oakland left-hander Rick Honeycutt underwent surgery to remove torn cartilage in his pitching shoulder. He will be out of action about six weeks.

Commissioner Fay Vincent said that Arizona will survive the decision of the Cleveland Indians to relocate from Tucson to Florida for spring training in 1993. “Cleveland had a wonderful opportunity in Florida, and I had the authority to keep them from going,” he said. “It’s very difficult to invoke that authority under those circumstances.”

Cal Ripken continued his hot hitting, going two for four, including a run-scoring double, in Baltimore’s 3-1 victory over Minnesota. Ripken has 12 hits in his last 17 at-bats and is hitting .455. . . . Goose Gossage, trying to land a job with Texas, was the winning pitcher in the Rangers’ 13-10 victory over Pittsburgh. He yielded two hits and one run in one inning. He has given up 13 hits and seven runs in eight innings this spring.