Deal With Mariners ‘Fantasy’

With the trading deadline Thursday, the rumors figure to be flying. One, published by a Seattle newspaper, has the Dodgers sending pitcher Darren Dreifort and outfielder Todd Hollandsworth to the Mariners for Jose Cruz Jr. and minor-league pitcher Ken Cloude.

“That shows you how ridiculous some of these rumors are,” Dodger executive vice-president Fred Claire said. “That is total fantasy, total fiction.

“What is so upsetting is that players’ names get mentioned, when there has never ever been any discussion. I haven’t spoken to [the Mariners] in some time.”

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Professional baseball has been a big part of third-base coach Joe Amalfitano’s life for 43 years. But these days, it doesn’t take up quite as much time as it used to.

Amalfitano can still be found laboring in the third-base coaching box, where he has been for the Dodgers since 1983.

But he finds his thoughts wandering to his wife, Kay, who is about to enter therapy as she continues her recovery from a serious auto accident in mid-May in Chicago that left her with a broken bone in her foot, broken ribs, a broken wrist, burst vertebrae and a deep gash on her cheek.

“She’s my top priority,” said Amalfitano of his wife, to whom he has been married since 1982. “I still give this organization everything I have, and they have been great throughout all of this, but I have to admit that now sometimes, my mind drifts and I think of her and what might have happened to her.

“This is a nice game, played by nice people, good kids, but she is No. 1 with me. The game used to be life and death to me, but now, when I think that death is something that could have happened to her, well, it makes me ill just to think of it.”

Amalfitano says he is grateful to the many fans who have inquired about his wife and wants them to know she is mending, slowly but steadily. He was touched by the response of fans in Los Angeles and was pleasantly surprised that fans from San Diego to San Francisco also showed concern.

“They would stick their heads over the dugout to ask,” Amalfitano said. “The fact that the fans recognized what had happened to her and acknowledged it means a lot to both me and Kay.”

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With 22 home runs and 20 stolen bases, outfielder Raul Mondesi is the sixth man in club history to reach the 20s in both categories.

Before him were Babe Herman (21 homers and 21 stolen bases in 1929), Willie Davis (21 and 32 in ‘62), Davey Lopes (28 and 44 in ‘79), Pedro Guerrero (32 and 22 in ‘82, and 32 and 23 in ‘83) and Kirk Gibson (26 and 27 in ‘88).

TODAY’S GAME

DODGERS’ PEDRO ASTACIO (6-7, 3.90 ERA) vs. PIRATES’ STEVE COOKE (8-9, 3.44 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 1 p.m.

Radio--KABC (790), KWKW (1330)

* Update--This is the finale of the home stand, to be followed by an arduous section of the schedule that will require the Dodgers to play 20 of their next 27 games on the road. It begins with a 10-game trip that includes four in Chicago, three in Montreal and three in Cincinnati. In Astacio’s last outing, he held the New York Mets scoreless for eight innings, striking out eight, but wound up with a no-decision. That was a lot better than the 3-1 defeat the Dodgers wound up with. It was also a lot better than Cooke’s last appearance against the Dodgers. That was in April of 1994 in Pittsburgh. Cooke gave up nine runs in five innings in a 19-2 Pittsburgh loss.