Notes on a Scorecard - July 15, 1993

Bound to happen after the All-Star break:

--John Kruk will suffer from recurring nightmares in which he is facing Randy Johnson. . . . --The Chicago White Sox will win the American League West title with a winning percentage of .512. . . .

--The Angels will finish a game behind the White Sox and explain that it was a rebuilding year. . . .

--Nobody will hit .400. . . .

--A pitcher will charge the plate and attack a batter. . . .

--Anthony Young will be compared to Charlie Brown. . . .

--The same people who complain about Cal Ripken Jr.’s streak will complain about Darryl Strawberry’s absence. . . .

--The Montreal Expos will call up hitting phenom Cliff Floyd from Harrisburg, Pa., of the double-A Eastern League, and he will have a Bob (Hurricane) Hazle-type impact. . . .

--Announcers will tell young viewers not to catch a baseball like Barry Bonds. . . .

--Three teams will claim they are talking to St. Petersburg-Tampa officials about moving. . . .

--On a slow news day in New York, George Steinbrenner will awake from his slumber and fire someone important. . . .

--Cecil Fielder will win his fourth consecutive American League RBI title and become a leading candidate to be a reserve on the 1994 All-Star team. . . .

--The San Francisco Giants will slow down and win the National League West title by only seven games. . . .

--Nobody will hit .390. . . .

--Thanks to the San Diego Padres and New York Mets, the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins will escape the cellar in their first season. . . .

*

--The Dodgers-Rockies series Aug. 9-12 at Dodger Stadium will be tame. In boxing, rematches rarely are as exciting as the original. . . .

--A Minnesota Twin will pitch a complete game. . . .

--By the end of this week, few will remember the score of the All-Star game. . . .

--Nolan Ryan will come off the disabled list for the third time and throw a no-hitter. . . .

--The Dodgers won’t execute a triple play. . . .

--Post-midnight snacks will be served during a game in Philadelphia. . . .

--Two teams--Colorado and Toronto--will draw 4 million people; four more--the Dodgers, Atlanta, Florida and Baltimore--will draw 3 million and baseball’s critics will say interest in the sport is dying. . . .

--Nobody will hit .380. . . .

--The San Diego Padres will trade Fred McGriff for youth--three Little League pitchers. . . .

*

Ted Williams, who will turn 75 next month, looked and sounded great during a visit to the CBS booth during the All-Star game telecast. . . .

Like those of many former athletes, Williams’ relationship with the media has improved considerably since his playing days. . . .

The All-Star game is more interesting now that batters, instead of pitchers, are dominating. . . .

The top three strikeout pitchers in the American League are current or former Seattle Mariners--Randy Johnson, Mark Langston and Erik Hanson. . . .

Two shutouts--count ‘em, two--are good enough to tie for the American or National League lead. . . .

Guards Stais Boseman and Claude Green and swingman Jaha Wilson have scored high enough on the college board tests to qualify academically for their freshman seasons at USC. Center Avondre Jones, the most prominent member of perhaps the Trojans’ best incoming class ever, qualified earlier. . . .

The 57% graduation rate of student-athletes was 2% higher than that for all students who entered NCAA Division I schools in 1986. . . .

Heavies: Robert Smith of Chicago was probably the heaviest heavyweight fighter ever when he weighed 344 for a recent bout. The tallest? According to Ring Record Book, it was Ewart Potgeiger, who stood 7 feet 2 and weighed 331. Other giants included the aptly named 6-3, 340-pound Clyde Biggerstaff and 6-10, 315-pound Leo Batiste. . . .

Business is booming in Anaheim, where the Mighty Ducks have sold 11,500 season tickets and sales are way up for the fourth annual Disneyland Pigskin Classic between USC and North Carolina Aug. 29. . . .

Sydney, Australia, has become the heavy favorite to be awarded the 2000 Olympic Games. . . .

Don’t discount Carl Lewis’ chances of winning one of the sprints in the World Championships next month at Stuttgart, Germany. Lewis, 32, ran 19.9 seconds and defeated Michael Johnson and Olympic gold medalist Michael Marsh in the 200 meters last week. . . .

Now that the Fourth of July has come and gone, the question is whether the Clippers will have a coach by Labor Day. Or Thanksgiving.