Notes on a Scorecard - May 25, 1995

These are times of mixed results for the only set of brothers to manage in the major leagues this century. . . .

Marcel Lachemann’s Angels are in first place in the American League West. . . .

Rene Lachemann’s Florida Marlins are in last place in the National League East. . . .

“The fact is that Rene is three times the manager I am,” Marcel said . . .

Twenty-six games into his first full season as a manager in any professional league, Marcel says he is just starting to learn his craft. . . .

“I’m more comfortable than I was last year, but I still make too many mistakes and have to get better,” he said. “I had blinkers on when I was a pitching coach. Now I have to run the game. The last time I did that before I got this job was in 1978 with Anchorage in the Alaskan League.” . . .

Marcel talks with his younger brother, who has far more managerial experience, on the phone two or three times a week. . . .

So far, most conversations have been about the Angels’ latest victory and the Marlins’ latest defeat. . . .

Among the biggest surprises in baseball are the fast starts of the Angels and the rest of the AL West. The division was supposed to be the worst in the major leagues but today has the highest winning percentage of any of the six. . . .

“We’re improved and so is everybody else in our division,” said Lachemann, whose team had a 30-44 record last year after he replaced Buck Rodgers. . . .

They could hardly have gotten worse. . . .

The Angels finished the strike-shortened season in last place at 47-68, but were only 5 1/2 games behind leader Texas. . . .

General Manager Bill Bavasi made Lachemann’s job easier when he signed free-agent reliever Lee Smith and traded center fielder Chad Curtis to the Detroit Tigers for left fielder Tony Phillips during the off-season. . . .

Bavasi took some heat for the Curtis-Phillips deal because he was trading for a player 10 years older, but it might turn out to be one of the greatest transactions in Angel history. . . .

“Phillips always has been an underrated player,” Lachemann said. “But a lot of people in this league realize he’s one of the best leadoff hitters because of his run production and on-base percentage. He and Smith help to give us a better blend of veterans and youngsters.” . . .

The team earned-run average was 12th in the American League last year. . . .

Now it is the best, and Lachemann, the old pitching coach, believes the Angels will go as far as their arms are able to carry them. . . .

*

Remember when so many of those stalwart L.A. politicians, who never could get the Coliseum remodeled as promised, laughed after the NFL said it would try to help build a stadium in Inglewood for the Raiders? . . .

Three decades ago, Jack Kent Cooke was ignored when he threatened to move the Lakers out of the Sports Arena and into a new arena in Inglewood that would also house his hockey team. . . .

Local football fans don’t realize how fortunate they are. Tampa Bay taxpayers are being asked to pick up a $175-million bill for a new stadium to house the Buccaneers. . . .

It will be an upset if Peter McNeeley lasts longer with Mike Tyson than his father Tom McNeeley did with Floyd Patterson when Patterson knocked him out in the fourth round of their heavyweight title fight in 1961. . . .

Mexican champions Alejandro Gonzalez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Miguel Angel Gonzalez and former champion Daniel Zaragoza will participate in world title bouts on a pay-per-view card from the Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Conn., on June 2. . . .

The promoter is L.A.-based Rogelio Robles. . . .

Paseana, the 8-year-old mare who will run in Sunday’s $100,000 Hawthorne Handicap at Hollywood Park, is only $193,433 away from overhauling Dance Smartly as the richest female in North American racing history. . . .

If Charles Barkley retires, he will become the only NBA player ever to win a most-valuable-player award but not a championship. . . .

The Indiana Pacers are giving new meaning to May in Indianapolis, a month that used to belong strictly to the 500. . . .

Eric Stuckenschneider is a designated hitter for the Dodgers’ San Bernardino farm club in the California League. His last name is three letters longer than that of anyone who has ever played in the major leagues. . . .

I’m glad Raul Mondesi is back in right field for the Dodgers. With his arm, he belongs there. The comparisons with Roberto Clemente can resume.