Dodgers Yet to Hit Stride in Defense of NL West

So you think pitching and defense win games? . . .

The Dodgers rank second in the National League in pitching and third in fielding, but 13th in hitting. . . .

Their record is 18-20. . . .

It would be considerably better if 222-pound Eric Karros, 212-pound Raul Mondesi and 210-pound Mike Blowers were at least hitting their weights. . . .

Last year when they won the NL West, the Dodgers were 14th and last in fielding. . . .

They haven’t made an error in their last six games or 10 of their last 11. . . .

Even in their loss at St. Louis on Sunday, they got outstanding plays from left fielder Todd Hollandsworth, center fielder Roger Cedeno and third baseman Blowers. . . .

Of course, the biggest improvement is at shortstop, where Greg Gagne is making tough plays look easy instead of Jose Offerman making easy plays look tough. . . .

When asked on the pregame show what the most important position in baseball is, Tom Lasorda quoted the old Casey Stengel line: catcher, because without him, there would be nothing but passed balls. . . .

Little did Lasorda know that Houston catcher Jerry Goff would have six passed balls in the first four innings at Montreal. . . .

Everyone on the field at Anaheim Stadium Saturday night wore blue shirts: the Angels, the Cleveland Indians and the umpires. Very unfashionable. . . .

This hasn’t been a great season for father Buddy Bell, whose Detroit Tigers have the worst record in the majors, and son David Bell, who is hitting .189 for the Cardinals. . . .

Frank Thomas still doesn’t get enough attention. The Chicago White Sox first baseman is a remarkable hitter. He is in his seventh season and still hasn’t gone more than two consecutive games without reaching base. . . .

The Sunday statistics showed half the teams in the American League with earned-run averages of at least 5.00. . . .

Houston didn’t go down easily in its fourth and final game against Seattle, but so much for Magic Johnson’s guarantee that the winner of the Laker-Rocket series would win the Western Conference playoffs. . . .

Hakeem Olajuwon leading the otherwise ordinary Rockets to back-to-back championships should be recognized as one of the great accomplishments in NBA history. . . .

It’s too bad that NBC didn’t stagger its playoff telecasts a little more. Because of the Houston-Seattle overtime, we missed the first 11 minutes 48 seconds of the Chicago-New York game. . . .

Right now, Orlando is playing better than the Bulls. . . .

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If he watched Lennox Lewis struggle to beat trial horse Ray Mercer on Friday night, Mike Tyson ought to be begging Don King to let him fight Lewis. . . .

Lewis never came close to knocking Mercer down, got hit too often, and was fortunate to be awarded the split decision. . . .

Evander Holyfield’s fifth-round win over outsized Bobby Czyz didn’t convince me that the former heavyweight champion, who has all the money and possessions he will ever need, should continue to risk his health in the ring. . . .

At 38, revitalized Tim Witherspoon belongs in the top five of the heavyweight rankings, and not just because he knocked out overrated Jorge Luis Gonzalez. . . .

Witherspoon, who lost a close decision to Larry Holmes one night in Las Vegas when Holmes was still near the top of his game, has wasted a lot of talent over the years. . . .

Left-handers Phil Mickelson and Bob Charles led the PGA regular and senior tour events going into the final rounds on Sunday. Mickelson won the Byron Nelson Classic, but Charles faltered in the Nationwide Championship. . . .

British amateur champion Gordon Sherry, who finished 17th in the Scottish PGA tournament in his professional debut, is 6-8. . . .

Martina Hingis’ win over Steffi Graf in the Italian Open was the most surprising by a 15-year-old girl since Chris Evert embarrassed Grand Slam winner Margaret Court at Charlotte, N.C., in 1970. Evert was so little known at the time that her name was spelled “Everet” on the scoreboard. . . .

Other sports should copy the Stanley Cup tradition of rival players shaking hands after the final game of a series. It never gets old. . . .

The Wayne Gretzky trade suddenly is looking a lot better for the St. Louis Blues. . . .

Such disciplinarians, those Orlando Magic players who imposed a strict 12:30 a.m. curfew upon themselves in Atlanta the night before Game 3 against the Hawks.