Notes on a Scorecard - July 19, 1993

Sleepless in L.A.: Tom Lasorda couldn’t sleep after the Dodgers blew a three-run lead with two out and a 1-2 count on John Vander Wal in the ninth inning Saturday night and lost to the Montreal Expos in the 10th. . . .

“Those are the kind of losses that shorten the life of a manager,” Lasorda said. . . .

But less than 24 hours later, he was looking younger after a 2-1 victory. . . .

“The good thing about baseball is that you can get ‘em the next day,” said Lasorda, eager to catch up on his sleep. . . .

Funny, but I didn’t have Mitch Webster and Carlos Hernandez in mind as the Dodgers who would hit back-to-back pitches for home runs. . . .

The Dodgers won’t miss Tim Wallach’s .217 batting average, but will miss his runs batted in production and leadership. . . . National League knuckleballers had mixed results on an unusually busy Sunday, Tom Candiotti beating the Expos and the Florida Marlins’ Charlie Hough losing to the Cincinnati Reds. . . .

After what that Randy Johnson fastball did to Mike Greenwell, John Kruk should consider himself lucky. . . .

The defending National League champion Atlanta Braves began the week with the lowest team batting average in the major leagues. . . .

Fernando Valenzuela has won five more games this season for the Baltimore Orioles than anyone outside his immediate family thought he would. . . .

The Cleveland Indians are closer to first place than the Oakland Athletics. . . .

Manager Kevin Kennedy believes the Texas Rangers need at least a dozen starts from Nolan Ryan, who pitches tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers after his latest stay on the disabled list, to remain competitive in the American League West race. . . .

It was nice to see the personable and charitable Greg Norman win the British Open. . . .

Michael Carbajal did nothing to tarnish his reputation as the most exciting performer in boxing Saturday night at Caesars Palace when he stopped Kim Kwang-Sun in the seventh round. . . .

Champion of the second-lightest division, Carbajal is a rarity, a one-punch knockout artist who has put away several opponents, including Kwang-Sun, with left hooks. . . .

The light-flyweight champion has no trouble making the 108-pound limit and there has even been talk of him reducing to 105 and challenging for the strawweight championship. . . .

Thumbs up to Chuck Bodak, one of the last of the great cutmen who stopped the flow from a nasty wound that Jorge Paez suffered above the left eye in the second round and allowed him to go the distance with International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Freddie Pendleton. . . .

Manager Norm Kaplan says San Fernando heavyweight Alex Garcia, who was knocked out by little-known Mike Dixon in his last bout, is not discouraged and will begin a comeback against former IBF cruiserweight champion James Waring on July 27 at the Riviera in Las Vegas. . . .

Bob Halloran, who helped to bring several world title fights to the Mirage, has resigned as boxing coordinator at the hotel. . . .

Heavies (cont.): 7-foot-2 Carl Chancellor of El Paso was introduced as weighing 425 pounds before he knocked out Enrique Escobedo, 229, in the first round on May 15. . . .

Magic Johnson, who sat ringside Saturday next to co-promoter Jerry Buss, is bullish on Laker rookie guard Nick Van Exel. . . .

“He’s so quick and he doesn’t back away from anybody,” said Johnson about the second-round pick from Cincinnati after seeing him play in the summer pro league. “He’s a little wild, but you can work on that.” . . .

Magic is predicting that the Chicago Bulls will four-peat after their signing of Toni Kukoc. . . .

“Kukoc knows how to play,” Johnson said. “He can pass, dribble, and shoot.” . . .

Magic has put together a group of former NBA players for an 18-game exhibition tour of Mexico and Europe that will begin in September. . . .

The Clippers better make that Danny Manning-Kendall Gill trade with Charlotte soon. Another proposed deal has Charles Oakley and Tony Campbell going to Philadelphia, Jeff Hornacek to Charlotte, and Gill to New York. . . .

Las Vegas probably will join Sacramento as U.S. franchises in the Canadian Football League next year. . . .

The World University Games were to Buffalo, N.Y., what the U.S. Olympic Festival was to Los Angeles. . . .

Heard in the back rows during a dull boxing match recently: “Up in front!”