Hudek Leaves Egg on Faces of the Experts

They pitched for the same high school in Tampa, Fla. John Hudek was Texas’ 30th-round pick in 1985, and scouts projected him as a third baseman. Chris Myers was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in ‘87, a left-hander Wade Boggs said would be “like Dave Righetti--only better.”

“Chris Myers was a concert pianist--he could orchestrate a whole ballgame by himself,” said Jeff Vardo, the former baseball coach at Plant High, the school that also produced Boggs. “Hudie was the guy playing for peanuts and potato chips at the piano bar.”

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Add pitchers: Ken Rosenthal of the Baltimore Sun notes that if if you had had to predict which one would end up unloading trucks for a department store, you probably would have said Hudek. And if you had had to predict which one would pitch in an All-Star game, you probably would have said Myers.

It turned out the other way around.

Hudek, the Houston Astros’ rookie closer who was put on waivers last July, struck out Cal Ripken Jr. in the All-Star game a year later.

Myers, once the No. 7 pick in the country, represents the classic failed prospect, a pitcher who never reached the majors and left baseball at 25 to work for a department store.

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Trivia time: What is the major league record for walks by one team in a game?

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Awareness: A KNX radio traffic reporter commenting last Wednesday on congestion near the Rose Bowl, where a World Cup semifinal soccer match was played:

“Some kind of game is going on there.”

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Handy man: Jeff Treadway of the Dodgers is 11 for 19 (.579) as a pinch-hitter this season.

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Get a WATS line: Last week, Oakland Athletic Manager Tony La Russa used eight pitchers in a game against the Boston Red Sox, including five of them in a span of eight pitches.

Said bullpen coach Art Kusnyer: “At least I didn’t have to pay for the calls.”

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Fore-gone conclusion: How did Neal Anderson know it was time to retire from the Chicago Bears?

“I was playing golf and I shot a 74,” said Anderson, 29, the Bears’ second-leading rusher behind Walter Payton. “That was my lowest round ever, so that did it.”

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Contagious? When balloting starts next year for the National League All-Star team, it could be nervous time for center fielders.

Last year, Pittsburgh’s Andy Van Slyke was chosen, then sat out the game because of a broken collarbone. This year Lenny Dykstra was the pick and sat out because of an appendectomy.

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Like it is: When things are going bad for a baseball team, one player or another often directs criticism against a teammate or teammates. Gregg Jefferies of the St. Louis Cardinals offers a refreshing change.

“As of right now, we stink,” he said of the Cards. “And that’s everybody. Me included.”

Jefferies is batting .327.

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Trivia answer: Seventeen, issued by Brooklyn Dodger pitchers to the New York Giants, April 30, 1944.

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Quotebook: ESPN’s Chris Berman: “If baseball doesn’t settle its strike by Labor Day, you’ll be looking at football. No one will care about baseball after football starts.”