The Truth Is Baylor Hated the Dodgers

Don Baylor, manager of the Colorado Rockies, has an added incentive to beat the Dodgers in the National League West.

Baylor, who was the American League’s most valuable player while playing for the Angels in 1979, expressed his dislike of the Dodgers--and an Angel inferiority complex--in his book “Nothing but the Truth: A Baseball Life.”

“We [the Angels] felt the burden of not being the Dodgers,” he wrote. “Why the Angels wanted to be Dodger clones was beyond me, but the emulation never ended. With all that Dodger Blue bleeding around me, I instantly began to hate the mere mention of that team.”

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Trivia time: What do captain Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange and Jay Haas, all part of the losing U.S. Ryder Cup team, have in common?

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Lingering dislike: Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants is still remembered, but not too fondly, in Pittsburgh, where he once played.

Paul Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote: “In three playoff games with the Pirates, Bonds--Mr. Every-Month-But-October--batted .191 with three RBIs in 68 at-bats.”

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Desperate: Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox on his team’s not having won a World Series since it sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920: “Every time I go to Yankee Stadium, I wipe the sweat off my forehead on Babe Ruth’s statue trying to get rid of the curse.”

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Wishful thinking: Nick Canepa in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “If Peter O’Malley brings an expansion NFL team to L.A., I’d love to see Tommy Lasorda coach it. Just so a radio guy can ask him: ‘What was your opinion of Steve Young’s performance?’ ”

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Easy choice: Eddie Sefko in the Houston Chronicle: “San Antonio’s Terry Cummings, who is closer to being a full-time preacher than a full-time contributor at forward, was ‘embarrassed’ when the Spurs offered him about $800,000 for this season, according to one confidant.

“One might ask in this case if it is wiser to be rich and embarrassed or poor and principled.”

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Please tell us: Marty Schottenheimer, Kansas City Chief coach, in Sports Illustrated: “Someday when I’m finished coaching I’ll explain why I feel the way I do about the Raiders.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1981, Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first player to have pitched five no-hit, no-run games with a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers in the Astrodome.

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Trivia answer: They all attended and played golf at Wake Forest.

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Quotebook: San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, on his brother, Chris, hitting a home run for the Dodgers to beat the Padres Saturday night: “The fact that he hit the home run--it still stinks.”