Notes on a Scorecard - July 28, 1992

Your name is Peter O’Malley and you have to be the most embarrassed owner in baseball. . . .

Your team has the second-highest payroll in the major leagues, but might finish with the worst record. The Dodgers are in last place in the National League West, are on a pace to compile their poorest record since 1944 and probably will lead the majors in attendance decrease. . . .

So what should you and your brain trust do? . . .

Give your general manager, Fred Claire, the opportunity to dig the Dodgers out of the mess he helped get them into only one season after he put together a team that won 93 games. If he doesn’t succeed, contemplate a reorganization that would move Tom Lasorda into the general manager’s office when his contract as manager runs out after next season. . . .

Be active in the free-agent market one more time rather than be lulled into the false notion that the answers to most of your problems are in the farm system. . . .

Make your No. 1 priority the signing of a veteran with a good glove to steady the young and porous infield. That would be second baseman Harold Reynolds, a three-time Gold Glove selection with the Seattle Mariners. . . .

Recognize the need to bolster a pitching staff that suddenly is very iffy. A left-hander is preferable, maybe John Smiley of the Minnesota Twins or Greg Swindell of the Cincinnati Reds. Other starters who will be eligible for free agency include Greg Maddux, Doug Drabek, David Cone and Jimmy Key. . . .

Sign a left fielder who figures to be in your lineup every day. Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays played a full schedule of 162 games in 1989, 1990 and 1991. . . .

None of this is going to be cheap, but you would be able to save dollars by not re-signing Eric Davis, Mike Scioscia, Juan Samuel and Dave Anderson. . . .

If Scioscia doesn’t hook on with another team, hire him as a coach to lend his expertise to the development of young catchers Mike Piazza and Carlos Hernandez. . . .

Pray that Darryl Strawberry doesn’t have back or shoulder trouble next season. . . .

If you need any more advice, Peter, please feel free to call me at the office. . . .

The Houston Astros’ next home game is on Aug. 25. . . .

In a rarity, all four of the defending division champions are in first place. . . .

A trade that helped one team sent St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Ken Hill to the Montreal Expos for first baseman Andres Galarraga. Hill has nearly as many victories as Galarraga has runs batted in. . . .

The Toronto Blue Jays are pretty ordinary when Juan Guzman or Jack Morris doesn’t start. . . .

If the Atlanta Braves win the NL West, much importance will be attached to Otis Nixon’s game-saving catch against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. . . .

The Florida Marlins will probably draft Ozzie Canseco, Jose’s twin brother, who is having a good year in the St. Louis farm system. . . .

Heavy-hitting second baseman Carlos Baerga has turned out to be much more than a throw-in in the deal that also sent Sandy Alomar Jr. and Chris James to the Cleveland Indians from the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter before the 1990 season. . . .

Terry Mulholland of the Philadelphia Phillies has the best pickoff move in the game. . . . It is all those other pitchers who throw to first base so often, with no hope of picking off the runner, who bug me. . . .

After Cal Ripken Jr.’s poor July, it can’t be long before some critic calls upon Baltimore Oriole Manager Johnny Oates to give Ripken a day off. . . .

Look-alikes: Howie Long and Jean-Claude Van Damme. . . .

Tour de France organizers thumbed their noses at the Olympic Games when they scheduled the final day of the bicycle race to coincide with the first day of full-scale competition at Barcelona. . . .

The new computerized Olympic boxing scoring system puts body punchers at an even bigger disadvantage because their blows are difficult to see. . . .

I’m reading too many quotes from Olympians about how they “choked” in their events rather than giving credit to their conquerors. . . .

The Lakers have an all-Los Angeles backcourt in the pro summer league, second-round draft choice Duane Cooper of USC and free agent Gerald Madkins of UCLA. . . .

Something should be done about the oversaturation of thoroughbred racing in Southern California after the dull Hollywood Park summer meeting that was marked by small crowds and fields.