Angels Hope New Philosophy Will Double Their Chances

The Angels are going to a National League style of play, club president Richard Brown says, and the hiring of Rod Carew as hitting instructor is a step in that direction. Hopefully: more speed, bunting and contact. Or, put another way by Manager Buck Rodgers: double trouble.

“A good offensive team is a doubles-hitting team,” Rodgers says. “I’d like to lead the league in doubles. I’d like to finish in the top three in doubles. It would mean you were using the entire field. It would guarantee you were a productive team.”

That was pretty much the case in 1991. The Pittsburgh Pirates were first in the National League in doubles and runs and won the Eastern Division. The Atlanta Braves were second in each category and won the Western Division. In the American League, the division champion Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins were second and fifth in doubles, respectively.

The Angels? They were 12th in doubles, 13th in runs and last in the West.

Some fun: It’s only recreational hockey, but four players have been suspended from a league in Prince George, British Columbia, in the last three years for incidents with referees. Most recently, Everette Rose of the Prince George Lumber Kings drew a 25-year suspension for hitting a referee in the mouth with his hockey stick.

Trivia time: Which major league pitcher holds the record for giving up consecutive home runs at the start of a game?

Shaquille’s slamduke: Louisiana State center Shaquille O’Neal got a lesson in political science and responded by accusing David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who is a candidate for governor of Louisiana, of twisting his words.

Asked by a Baton Rouge TV station if his election would harm LSU’s chances of recruiting black athletes, Duke said: “Shaquille O’Neal . . . said (it) wouldn’t affect the state at all. . . .”

O’Neal was quoted in a recent issue of Tiger Rag magazine of saying he would have told Duke “to take a hike” if he had been the coach trying to recruit him. There was no indication of how he thought’s Duke’s election would affect the state. O’Neal issued the following statement through the school:

“Webster’s Dictionary defines a lie as ‘to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.’ That’s what happened. I resent it totally. People would do anything to get a vote. But I want the fans and the people in the community to know I’m no Uncle Tom.”

Trivia answer: Roger Mason, then of the San Francisco Giants, who gave up home runs to Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk at the start of a game with the San Diego Padres in 1987.

Bad draw? The Pirates and the city they play in were criticized for failing to sell out Game 7 of the National League playoffs, but consider: The Pirates sold about 2.5 million tickets during the 1991 season, including those that were not used during the postseason. That’s better than one ticket for every person in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area. If the New York Mets and Yankees sold one ticket per person in New York City, they would each draw 12 million.

Quotebook: Myron Brown of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the only player from Division II Slippery Rock ever to make the NBA: “Everyone asks me where Slippery Rock is. They think it’s in Arkansas. I tell them it’s one hour north of Pittsburgh.”