Notes on a Scorecard - Aug. 26, 1991

If you were going to describe the Dodgers with one word, it wouldn’t be scrappy. . . . I don’t buy the argument that some Dodgers aren’t concentrating on the pennant race because they are on the last year of their contracts. What about the first 100-plus years when everybody played with one-year contracts and didn’t know whether they would get a raise, a paycut, a trade or a trip to the minors? . . .

Gary Carter and Mitch Webster deserve more playing time. . . .

Never on Sunday and rarely on the weekend: The Dodgers have lost all eight of their Sunday games since the All-Star break and have been swept three of the last four weekends. . . .

At least Pedro Guerrero, who kept stranding Cardinal runners, proved that he is still valuable to the Dodgers. . . .

If he doesn’t starting hitting better, the young Dodger shortstop is going to be known as Jose “O-for-man.” . . .

Should Fred Claire have traded for Chicago Cub shortstop Shawon Dunston? . . .

You’ve heard about ballplayers hitting their weight. Well, Rob Deer may strike out his weight this year. . . .

The formerly wild American League West has turned into the most lopsided divisional race. . . .

Cecil Fielder for MVP! . . .

If pitching is 80% of the game, how come the Detroit Tigers are winning so much now and the Dodgers are losing so much? . . .

Al Davis might have made a mistake when he traded quarterback Steve Beuerlein to Dallas. That leaves Jay Schroeder with the seldom-used, 36-year-old Vince Evans and rookie Todd Marinovich as backups. . . .

Poor Beuerlein. He didn’t get to dress last season for the Raiders, and now he will have to watch Troy Aikman from the Cowboys’ bench. . . .

Pass rusher Lee Williams would have fit perfectly into the Rams’ new defense, but you didn’t really expect them to make a trade with the San Diego Chargers and pay Williams big money, did you? . . .

If the Phoenix Cardinals hadn’t lost Timm Rosenbach, they might have been the most improved team in the NFL. . . . Rosenbach and Dave Krieg of the Seattle Seahawks were the only quarterbacks to take every one of their team’s snaps last season. . . .

In Philadelphia, they are calling new Eagle Coach Rich Kotite “Uptight” after he barred the media from practice sessions. . . .

Asked if his successor would loosen up once he got accustomed to the job, CNN commentator Buddy Ryan cracked, “He might jump off a bridge or something.” . . .

However, with all that outstanding material he developed, Ryan is picking the Eagles to win the NFC East championship. . . .

Nobody was more surprised by New England’s victory over the New York Giants than the Patriot fans. Only 21,147 showed up for the exhibition in Foxboro, Mass. . . .

Could Robert Smith be headed west? The Ohio State tailback, who broke Archie Griffin’s school freshman rushing record and quit the team the other day, had listed USC as the other finalist for his services when he came out of high school. . . .

Burt Reynolds, the old Florida State halfback, will donate 50 Disneyland Pigskin Classic tickets to Jim Brown’s AMERI-I-CAN program for inner-city kids and appear on the XTRA radio midday sports talk show that will be co-hosted by Brown today. . . .

The Stanford team surgeon is Don Bunce, who quarterbacked the Cardinal to a 13-12 upset over Michigan in the 1972 Rose Bowl. . . .

Thumbs up to NBC for devoting so many hours to the world track and field championships. . . .

U.S. Open picks: Andre Agassi and Gabriela Sabatini. . . .

John (Sonny) Vaccaro of Pacific Palisades, who signed basketball coaches and players to endorsement contracts with Nike, has left the shoe company to become co-chairman of DIC Sports Marketing. . . .

Vaccaro said he will be representing athletes in the tableau of an IMG or ProServ. He already has signed NBA rookies Dikembe Mutombo, Stacey Augmon and Billy Owens. . . .

Considered to be one of the most influential figures in collegiate basketball, Vaccaro has denied accusations that he provided recruiting help to coaches who were connected with Nike. His Nike summer camps combined basketball and classroom sessions. He also sponsored the Roundball Classic in Pittsburgh, the first national high school all-star game. . . .

In a switch, the Soviet Union might get the loudest ovation of all the teams when it takes the ice for the Canada Cup.