Notes on a Scorecard - May 6, 1992

Are you ready for baseball? . . .

This is the first time since 1981 that no Los Angeles team has advanced to the second round of the NBA or NHL playoffs. . . .

The Clippers, Lakers and Kings had a 5-10 record in postseason play. . . .

Underachievers: The Kings, who have the hockey player some still consider to be the best in the history of the sport. . . .

Overachievers: The Lakers, who somehow reached the playoffs despite all their injuries and illnesses and managed to take a game from the team with the best record in the Western Conference. . . .

Future contenders: The Clippers. An off-season deal for a shooter would make them one of the more formidable teams in the league. Dallas Maverick guard Derek Harper could be their man. . . .

It should not have come as a surprise that reserve David Benoit performed so well for the Utah Jazz in Game 5. After all, the Clippers never have had much luck with guys named Benoit. . . .

Benoit played for the Lakers’ team in the Summer League at Loyola Marymount in 1991. . . .

You knew the Clippers were in trouble late in the first half when Karl Malone was zero for seven from the floor and John Stockton had neither a point nor an assist, but the Jazz trailed by only four points. . . .

Robert Parish’s performance on the road in Game 2 of the Boston-Cleveland series must rank as one of the most remarkable of his 16-year career. . . .

Among the reasons the home-court advantage in the NBA is more important than the home-ice advantage in the NHL is that basketball’s home teams seem to get most of the key calls. . . .

I do not envy the next coach of the Detroit Pistons. . . .

The lottery 11 could be Shaquille O’Neal, Christian Laettner, Alonzo Mourning, Jim Jackson, Walt Williams, Harold Miner, Anthony Peeler, Anfernee Hardaway, Adam Keefe, Malik Sealy and Don MacLean. . . .

This is a weak year for point guards in the draft. . . .

Marion Jones, the 16-year-old sprinter from Thousand Oaks High who has a good chance to make the U.S. Olympic team in the 200 meters, reminds track promoter Al Franken of Wilma Rudolph with her lanky build and long stride. . . .

The Whittier College lacrosse team has won 39 consecutive games. . . .

Bill Walton and former Ram kicker Mike Lansford acted in a TV pilot for a half-hour comedy sports show. . . .

Kevin Costner, a 1979 graduate of Cal State Fullerton, threw out the first pitch during the official opening ceremony at Titan Field. It was a ball. Of course, Costner was a catcher, not a pitcher, in “Bull Durham.” . . .

Look-alikes: Ralph Kiner and senior golfer Roberto De Vicenzo. . . .

I can’t get enough of those tapes of the late John Facenda on the Steve Hartman-Chet Forte sports talk show on XTRA. . . .

Basketball sharpshooter Monica Seles says she is effective from three-point territory. . . . Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez of Spain will make the home nation tough to beat in the women’s Olympic tennis competition at Barcelona this summer. . . .

It may not be particularly artistic, but the Bobby Czyz-Donny LaLonde cruiserweight title fight Friday at the Rivera Hotel in Las Vegas will not be dull. . . .

Now that Arazi no longer qualifies, the closest thing to a super horse in thoroughbred racing is Best Pal. . . .

You know about the Houston Astros’ 26-game trip in late July and August because of the Republican convention at the Astrodome, but now it appears that the Dodgers may play a 22-game home stand in late June and July. What was going to equal their longest L.A. home stand will be extended by as many as four games because of the rescheduling caused by the riots. . . .

It was 30 years ago Tuesday that Los Angeles Angel left-hander Bo Belinsky pitched a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium. . . .

Longwood College in Virginia, which sent Jerome Kersey to the Portland Trail Blazers, has a terrific baseball prospect in outfielder-shortstop Michael Tucker. . . .

The longest working agreement between major and minor league teams is that of the Baltimore Orioles and Bluefield, W. Va., of the Appalachian League, which began in 1958. . . .

The Seattle Mariners would not be in sixth place if Mike Moore and Billy Swift were still pitching for them. . . .

Peter Ueberroth was the perfect choice to head the Los Angeles rebuilding effort because he is a can-do person.