Notes on a Scorecard - June 5, 1995

Before the season, I picked Orlando to beat Houston in the NBA finals. . . .

I’ll stick with that. . . .

The fact that I switched my selection before the playoffs to San Antonio over Orlando no longer counts. . . .

The slight edge in a marvelous matchup in the pivot should go to the Rockets’ Hakeem Olajuwon over the Magic’s Shaquille O’Neal, but the difference in, say, a six-game series will be O’Neal’s superior supporting cast. . . .

Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway is worth every nickel the Magic is paying him. . . .

The first five games in the Orlando-Indiana series were decided by a total of 17 points and the last two games by 51. . . .

Coach Bob Hill is getting too much blame for not handling the turmoil on the San Antonio Spurs well enough. . . .

Nearly all the blame should go to the person who created the turmoil, Dennis Rodman. . . .

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A visitor to the Dodger clubhouse Saturday night was Charlie Hough, who spent the first 7 1/2 of his 22 full major league seasons pitching for Los Angeles. . . .

Hough, a longtime resident of Brea, is taking it easy at 47 after having undergone hip replacement surgery in January. . . .

He says he might want to return to baseball in some capacity, such as a pitching coach. Maybe he could develop a few more knuckleballers. The Dodgers’ Tom Candiotti and Boston’s Tim Wakefield, who both pitched Sunday, are the only ones left in the major leagues. . . .

Hough ended his career last season with the Florida Marlins at exactly .500--216 wins, 216 losses. He started 440 games and appeared as a reliever in 418. . . .

Look-alikes: Raul Mondesi and Raul Mondesi Jr. . . .

Two-year-old Raul is a dead ringer for his dad and, sure enough, showed a strong right arm during a game of catch with Tom Lasorda. . . .

Mondesi Sr. will be honored as the Man of the Year in baseball at the 10th annual Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular Sunday at the Century Plaza. . . .

Fred Claire says it is reasonable to expect the Dodgers’ No. 1 draft pick, Florida State sophomore left-hander David Yocum, to make it to the National League in two or three years. . . .

Yocum didn’t survive the first inning of Florida State’s 4-2 loss to Miami in the College World Series on Sunday. . . .

A power-hitting Dodger prospect to watch at Albuquerque of the Pacific Coast League is Karim Garcia. The outfielder from Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, is 19 and making the jump all the way from the Class A Florida State League. He is 6-foot, 172 pounds, and hits and throws left-handed. . . .

The knock on Pedro Martinez when the Dodgers traded him to Montreal for Delino DeShields was that, at 5-11 and 170 pounds, he might not be strong enough to become an effective starting pitcher. . . .

But how strong do you have to be to throw 93 pitches in nine innings the way he did in retiring 27 San Diego batters in a row Saturday night? . . .

Jim Harrick, back from an appearance at the White House, will be given the Spirit of Los Angeles award at the L.A. Headquarters Assn.’s 34th awards luncheon Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Former Mayor Tom Bradley, a UCLA alumnus, will make the presentation. . . .

Talent scout Bob Gibbons says the best big player in high school basketball next season will be 6-11 Jermaine O’Neal of Columbia, S.C., who is no relation to Shaquille O’Neal. Among those on O’Neal’s short list of college choices are South Carolina and Kentucky. . . .

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Jackie McCoy is bullish on South African light-heavyweight Gary Ballard, whom he is training in Westminster for a bout against World Boxing Assn. champion Virgil Hill in July in London. . . .

World Boxing Assn. champion Bruce Seldon will defend his title, probably against Joe Hipp, on the Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley undercard Aug. 19 at the MGM Grand. Yeah, the non-title fight will be the main event and the title fight the semi-main. . . .

George Foreman and Bob Arum plan a Nevada court fight against the International Boxing Federation’s ruling that it will strip Foreman of his heavyweight title if he doesn’t give Axel Schulz a rematch. . . .

The last time Foreman went to court, he beat the World Boxing Assn., which had ruled that he wasn’t a proper opponent for then-champion Michael Moorer.