THE INSIDE TRACK : Maybe Dodgers Wouldn’t Have Met Match So Early

While wondering where the Dodgers might be in the standings if Mike Piazza were still their catcher, Roger Cedeno were still in their outfield and Dave Wallace were still their pitching coach, I was thinking:

Met General Manager Steve Phillips deserves credit for the moves he made during the off-season, but one he made during the season appears to have been inspired by genius. . . .

On June 6, when the Mets were 27-28, he fired three coaches, including pitching coach Bob Apodaca, over the objections of Manager Bobby Valentine. All it did was save Valentine’s job. . . .

In their next 86 games, the Mets won 32 more games than they lost. . . .

Of course, Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone thought of it first. Ten days earlier, he fired pitching coach Charlie Hough. . . .

I think it’s safe to say now that Hough wasn’t the Dodgers’ only problem. They were a .500 team, 22-22, when he was replaced by Claude Osteen. . . .

The best infield ever? That’s the question Sports Illustrated posed regarding the Mets’ John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo, Rey Ordonez and Robin Ventura. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least one better. . . .

Davey Johnson agrees, but he acknowledges that he might be prejudiced because he was part of that Baltimore infield that included Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger and Boog Powell. . . .

“Ventura is pretty good, but I don’t know if I ever saw anybody as good as Brooks,” Johnson said. “[Ordonez] has better range and a better arm, but nobody ever had better hands than Belanger. Olerud and Boog move about the same.”

As for second base, Johnson said, “I had more range and I could turn it better than [Alfonzo].” . . .

New York was too tough for Kenny Rogers when he pitched for the Yankees in 1996 and ’97. But Rogers, who pitches Sunday at Dodger Stadium, is 4-0 since joining the Mets this summer and receiving standing ovations in Shea Stadium. . . .

I guess New York has matured a lot in the last couple of years.

*

Sammy Sosa supporters who said he deserved the MVP award last season because he led the Cubs to the playoffs are saying he deserves it this season because of his home run and RBI numbers, even though the Cubs have the National League’s worst record. . . .

You can’t have it both ways. . . .

I’d vote for Houston’s Jeff Bagwell. . . .

In the American League, I’d give a slight edge to Pedro Martinez over Texas’ Rafael Palmeiro and Cleveland’s Manny Ramirez. Martinez provided the Red Sox with the swagger that some thought they would lose without Mo Vaughn. . . .

Felix Trinidad, who has closed his workouts in Las Vegas to the media as he prepares for his Sept. 18 fight at Mandalay Bay against Oscar De La Hoya, is “totally paranoid.” . . .

So says promoter Bob Arum, who adds, “I’ve never seen anything like this since Gerry Cooney came to fight in Vegas and his managers were checking out the air conditioning vents at Caesars to see if anyone was trying to poison his room.” . . .

“Mark my words,” Arum said. “If Trinidad loses, he’s going to accuse me of putting something in his food.” . . .

“Body & Soul,” the remake of the 1947 movie premiering Saturday night on Showtime, has something that “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” did not--real fight scenes. . . .

Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, starring in the John Garfield role, was filmed sparring with four opponents in two-round exhibitions. . . .

“Although nobody was trying to kill each other, Ray got banged up,” says one of the producers, Peter McAlevey. . . .

The one Chicago Bear who still has confidence in Cade McNown is Cade McNown. . . .

McNown’s cockiness, which served him well when he could back it up at UCLA, has not so far endeared him to teammates. They prefer Shane Matthews at quarterback because he has a better grasp of the offense. . . .

UCLA, which plays at Ohio State on Saturday, has not traveled that far east since Bob Toledo’s first season in 1996, when the Bruins lost at Tennessee and Michigan. . . .

Asked if those trips provided valuable experience for this one, Toledo said, “The only thing I learned that year was that we didn’t have a very good football team.” . . .

This will be only the Buckeyes’ fourth night game at Ohio Stadium. . . .

Their coach, John Cooper, wasn’t happy with the 8 p.m. EDT kickoff. He figured that with a 1 p.m. start--10 a.m. PDT--the Bruins would still be rubbing sleep out of their eyes. . . .

Kenny Rogers will sing before the game Monday night at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers asked Orel Hershiser, but he had another commitment.

*

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com