All-Star Constellation Shift Could Bring Back Piazza

Since it was reported Sunday that the Dodgers are interested in reacquiring Mike Piazza, the reaction by many in the media has been to discount the story because it is not likely to occur.

Following, however, are two scenarios under which Piazza might return to Dodger Stadium to hit home runs for the Dodgers instead of against them.

a) If Ken Griffey Jr., and Alex Rodriguez become available, the New York Mets will be among the most aggressive pursuers.

Griffey has already said that he would be interested in the Mets, if only as revenge against George Steinbrenner. Griffey is still hurt because Steinbrenner wouldn’t allow him as a child to join his father, Ken Griffey Sr., in the clubhouse before games he played at Yankee Stadium.

As for Rodriguez, you might think he would be less of a target for the Mets because they already have Rey Ordonez at shortstop. That would be true if the Mets played in another city. Rodriguez not only would give them more offense than Ordonez but also a cover boy answer at shortstop to the Yankees’ Derek Jeter.

If the Mets had Griffey and Rodriguez, they might have to trade Piazza and the remaining six years of his $91-million contract for budget reasons. He also would be expendable as a hitter and as a hot topic for the New York tabloids.

b) Chase Carey goes to work for the Mets.

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It’s good to have “Monday Night Football” back on Monday night.

For years, the East Coast press yapped that ABC should move the game forward by an hour so that it would end before midnight back there and the kids could stay up to watch. So ABC finally tried it last season and found out that the kids are all watching wrestling.

Ratings improved by only 3% in the East, not nearly enough to compensate for the drops elsewhere--14% drop in the Pacific and Central, 11% in the Rocky Mountain time zones.

I’m not kidding about the wrestling, by the way. A rumor circulated last week that the NFL offered $100 million to the WWF to move to another night. The NFL denied it.

The real story, I’m hearing, is that the NFL proposed a tag team match pitting their guys, Bill Romanowski and Kevin Greene, against the WWF’s Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, with the winner taking Monday nights.

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The New York Jets are reaping what they didn’t sow. . . .

The Giants were in favor of keeping the grass planted in Giants Stadium for soccer, but Jet Coach Bill Parcells objected. Now the new artificial turf has been blamed for injuries that will cost him quarterback Vinny Testaverde and fullback Leon Johnson for the rest of the season and wide receiver Wayne Chrebet for six weeks. . . .

Impeachment proceedings have begun again in Washington. . . .

They do not involve Bill Clinton. The Constitution dictates that he will be out of office in another 15 months. But our forefathers did not foresee Norv Turner coaching the Redskins and failed to limit his terms. . . .

The only coach who had a worse weekend than Turner was Baylor’s Kevin Steele. What was he thinking, having his quarterback run a play on the last play of the game against Nevada Las Vegas instead of taking a knee? . . .

John Robinson is the luckiest man in Vegas. He shouldn’t be coaching there; he should be playing poker. With opponents like Steele, they’d throw away three of their four aces trying for a royal flush. . . .

From a historical perspective, UCLA shouldn’t worry about the 42-20 loss to Ohio State. . . .

Dick Vermeil’s Bruins lost to the Buckeyes, 41-20, during the regular season in 1975, then rebounded to upset them in the Rose Bowl game, 23-10. . . .

Bob Toledo should hope that history quits repeating itself there. If not, he could be coaching the Philadelphia Eagles next season. . . .

E-2: I wrote last week that UCLA had not played as far east as Columbus, Ohio since 1996 games at Michigan and Tennessee. I had been trying to forget their game last season at Miami. Apparently, I was successful. . . .

Get off Joe Maddon’s back for playing his youngsters Saturday against the Twins. That’s not fair to the kids. Now let’s see how Eric Milton fares in his next start against Toms River, N.J., with the winner advancing to the championship game against Taiwan.

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While wondering if Rick Mirer will be this season’s Testaverde, I was thinking: I have seen the future of an NFL expansion team in Los Angeles and it was Cleveland’s 43-0 loss to Pittsburgh, no one will stand in Serena Williams’ way except for Venus, maybe Kevin Malone could make a call about getting Pedro Martinez back too.

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