Dodgers and Angels Showing Signs of Life

This might also turn out to be quite a baseball season in the soccer capital. . . .

The Dodgers are coming home in first place in the National League West and the Angels are hitting the road as the hottest team in the majors. . . .

The Dodgers have the pitching and the defense, their bats are waking up, and they are getting some good fortune such as the bases-loaded walk to relief pitcher Chan Ho Park that gave them a win over the Chicago Cubs in the 13th inning Wednesday. . . .

The Angels, who scored two touchdowns and two extra points in their win over the Chicago White Sox, are starting to do many of the things that made them the surprise team of the American League for four-fifths of the 1995 season. . . .

Ernie “Let’s Play Two” Banks must have loved the Dodger-Cub series at Wrigley Field. They played two games Tuesday and long enough--4 hours 59 minutes--for two on Wednesday. . . .

After watching Pedro Astacio work slower than slow in the fourth inning, Cub broadcaster Steve Stone said, “This is the baseball equivalent of the four-corners offense.” . . .

When rookie Darin Erstad stole his first base Monday night, he moved into a tie for third among Angel base stealers this season. . . .

The Angels have stolen only 19 bases. The record for fewest in a season is 13 by the Washington Senators in 1957. . . .

Younger players should copy the work ethic of Don Slaught, 37, and Rex Hudler, 35. . . .

I don’t think the San Diego-Detroit trade is going to change the balance of power in the NL West or AL East. . . .

Maybe the American League should also suspend the umpire who failed to toss Albert Belle out of the game after Belle threw a forearm into the face of Milwaukee second baseman Fernando Vina. . . .

Ozzie Smith, who says he will retire at the end of the season, ought to be be a unanimous Hall of Fame choice the first year he is eligible. Smith is the greatest fielder ever at the most important position, shortstop. . . .

Thumbs up to Shane Mack, who has joined Eric Karros and Tim Leary as former UCLA baseball players who have endowed $100,000 scholarships at their alma mater. Mack is having a big season in Japan. . . .

USC Coach Henry Bibby says Washington forward Mark Sanford, who has withdrawn his name from the NBA draft and will return to school for his junior season, will be a lottery pick next year. . . .

Indiana forward Brian Evans improved his NBA draft stock considerably during the recent pre-draft camp in Chicago. . . .

Scouts are also bullish on Vitaly Potapenko, a 6-10, 280-pound forward-center from Wright State and Ukraine who might be a lottery pick. . . .

UCLA center Jelani McCoy and forward J.R. Henderson will attend Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp in Honolulu in August. . . .

Detroit Red Wing defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov played 81 regular-season and 19 playoff games without suffering a serious injury. Last Friday, he played tennis. He suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon. . . .

As has become the custom, many European players will be drafted by NHL teams Saturday in St. Louis. . . .

In the 1967-68 season, 97% of NHL players were born in Canada, 2% in the U.S. and 1% outside North America. The figures last season were 61.5% from Canada, 17.7% from the U.S. and 20.8% from outside North America. . . .

Buster Douglas, who handed Mike Tyson his only pro defeat, expects to weigh 250 pounds for his bout against little-known Tony La Rosa on Saturday on the Roberto Duran-Hector Camacho pay-per-view card. During his retirement, Douglas reportedly ballooned to nearly 400. . . .

Oscar De La Hoya has played golf every day since his victory over Julio Cesar Chavez on June 7. . . .

Bull Elephant backfield members Tank Younger, Deacon Dan Towler and Dick Hoerner are among those who will attend a reunion of the 1951 NFL champion Los Angeles Rams on Saturday at Hollywood Park. . . .

National champion skater Michelle Kwan of Torrance will appear in an exhibition at the Pond of Anaheim on July 7. That will be her 16th birthday, meaning she can earn her California driver’s license the same day at a local branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles. . . .

Asked his reaction to becoming the first man to make the U.S. Olympic team in both the shotput and discus since 1924, John Godina from UCLA said, “I was a bio major. I don’t know anything about history.”