Even Vendors Have to Make Adjustments

One of the few recognizable faces in the Phoenix ballpark for an exhibition game between the replacement Giants and Athletics was that of vendor Dan Bryan, who cried, “Yummy, yummy, yummy, tickle your little tummy” as he sold peanuts, ice cream and frozen chocolate malts.

A fan asked Bryan why he was being so loud.

“I’m not used to small crowds,” said Bryan, who has been selling food in the stands for 24 years. “I’m not used to this.”

There were 1,582 tickets sold at the 7,975-seat stadium.

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Trivia time: Who are the only left-handed golfers to have won major championships?

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The stat man: Jon Heyman of Newsday wonders what happens if one of the strikebreakers actually can play and he hits .400 against a bunch of no-talent pitchers? Would Ted Williams still be the last to hit .400?

No, Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau told Heyman.

“As a statistician, you record what happens,” Hirdt said. “There’s not a person in the world who wouldn’t rather have the regular players out there. But if they’re not there, we’ll record the achievements of those who are there.”

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Lonely feeling: North Carolina Motor Speedway, in Rockingham, is a tight 1.017-mile oval considered one of the most difficult on the Winston Cup stock car racing circuit. After John Andretti finished 492 laps there, crew chief Tim Brewer of the Kranefuss-Haas team said, “Racing 492 laps (at Rockingham) is like going to a gang fight, and your gang doesn’t show up.”

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Slow boat to . . .: Reflecting on the sinking of oneAustralia, helmsman Rod Davis was told that such a thing never could have happened with Eagle, the sturdy but slow aluminum 12-meter he sailed for the Newport Harbor Yacht Club in the 1986-87 America’s Cup in Australia.

“I couldn’t have been that lucky,” Davis said.

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Add oneAustralia: The boat was designed by a team called Fluid Thinking, which has an office next to the team’s compound on Mission Bay. The sign out front was missing the day after the disaster.

Seems somebody had changed it to “Fluid Sinking.”

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Not in the genes: Pittsburgh replacement relief pitcher Jimmy Boudreau, 35, is 11 years older than his father, Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau, was when he was hired as player-manager of the Cleveland Indians.

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Family talk: Cathy Stockton has walked more fairways with husband Dave and son Dave Jr. than most spectators ever will, but after she was hit on the calf by an errant shot by Andy Williams during the Bob Hope tournament, Dave quipped: “After she sees a few more golf tournaments, maybe she’ll know how to get out of the way.”

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Filling in: Carlos Castillo is a former waiter who sees no problem in becoming a replacement pitcher for the Angels.

“I’m not taking a job away from a big leaguer,” he said. “They’ll all get their jobs back when this thing is settled.”

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FYI: There have been more major league home runs hit on Sunday, 31,735, than any other day of the week.

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Trivia answer: Bob Charles of New Zealand, who beat Phil Rodgers in a playoff for the 1963 British Open, and Phil Mickelson, who won the 1990 U.S. Amateur.

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Quotebook: Tom Lasorda, on former Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia: “If he raced his pregnant wife, he’d finish third.”