Notes on a Scorecard - July 11, 1994

It’s time for mid-term report cards. . . .

Dodger batting: B. Starting pitching: C+. Relief pitching: D. Fielding: C. . . .

Angel batting: D. Starting pitching: D. Relief pitching: D. Fielding: C+. . . .

I can’t get it straight from week to week. Does Todd Worrell think he’s being asked by Tom Lasorda to pitch too many innings or too few? . . .

If the Dodgers aren’t going to recall Jose Offerman during the remainder of the season, they should trade him. Rafael Bournigal, 28, looks like the shortstop of the present and future. . . .

The best thing about the slick-fielding Bournigal as a hitter is that he makes contact, having struck out only twice in 41 at-bats. . . .

The Giants showed how desperate they are by rushing Darryl Strawberry into the starting lineup. . . .

Raul Mondesi’s major league numbers are a lot better than his Pacific Coast League numbers last year. He batted .280, hit 12 home runs and had 65 runs batted in during 110 games for Albuquerque. . . .

Mondesi credits Dodger Coach Manny Mota for helping him become a better opposite-field hitter. . . .

Last year at the All-Star break, the Dodgers were 46-41, tied for third in the NL West, and 12 games out of the lead. . . .

The Angels were 43-43, tied for fourth in the AL West, and two games out. . . .

One of the best jobs in the National League is being done by Houston Astros rookie Manager Terry Collins. . . .

Dodger reliever Ismael Valdes, 20, is the youngest player in the National League and Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez, 18, the youngest in the American. . . .

Chicago White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas has a substantial lead in the most underrated offensive category--runs scored.

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One of the most remarkable performances of the year was that of Kim Williams, who finished in a tie for 10th place in the Jamie Farr Toledo LPGA Classic despite playing with a bullet lodged in her rib cage after a shooting a week ago Saturday. . . .

The only athletes ever to appear on the cover of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated the same week have been Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Joe Namath, Secretariat, Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and, last month, O.J. Simpson. . . .

Let’s hope that the new $4.8 million scoreboards at the Coliseum will have game clocks that work. . . .

Jim Hardy, who was Coliseum general manager for 13 years, will be honored by the Orange County Sports Assn. at its newsmakers’ luncheon Tuesday at the Anaheim Stadium Club and be inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Aug. 11. . . .

Hardy promoted the first football games at Anaheim Stadium--a doubleheader featuring the San Diego Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders-Boston Patriots in 1966. . . .

Wayne Lukas appears to have another exceptional 2-year-old filly in Serena’s World, who won the six-furlong Landaluce on Saturday at Hollywood Park and looks as though she will be able to handle a distance. . . .

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Madonna will make her long-anticipated coaching debut July 31 at the Forum when she matches strategy against Arsenio Hall during the Magic Johnson charity basketball game. . . .

The Clippers will play one-fourth as many games in Japan as in Anaheim next season. . . .

Of 20 USC freshman football recruits, only Marlin Carey and Antoine Simpson haven’t met school entrance requirements. Both met NCAA requirements, which are lower than USC’s. . . .

ABC studio host Jim McKay to Alexi Lalas after the U.S. defender wouldn’t make a prediction on the Brazil-Netherlands game: “What do you think you’re here for?” . . .

I didn’t realize quite how Americanized the World Cup had become until a beach ball was thrown onto the field during the Bulgaria-Germany game Sunday. . . .

Sweden is trying to pull off its biggest upset in the United States since Ingemar Johansson knocked out Floyd Patterson in the third round on June 26, 1959, to win the heavyweight championship. . . .

Look for an announcement soon that the Michael Moorer-George Foreman heavyweight title fight has been signed for Nov. 5 at the MGM Grand Garden. . . .

Officiating at the wedding of Top Rank Inc. vice-president Dan Goossen and Debbie Luery on Saturday at Bally’s Las Vegas, boxing referee and Nevada Superior Court judge Mills Lane concluded, “I now pronounce you man and wife. Let’s get it on!”