The Inside Track : Double Switch Pulled When He Takes a Chipper Stance

There’s a reason MVP ballots in baseball aren’t due until after the regular season.

A couple of weeks ago, I had Houston’s Jeff Bagwell with a slight edge over Atlanta’s Chipper Jones in the National League. That changed Thursday, when Jones completed one of the best clutch-hitting exhibitions in recent memory. In a crucial three-game sweep of the New York Mets, he hit .444 with four home runs and seven RBIs.

If it’s not too late, I’m also switching my support for 1995 NL rookie-of-the-year to Jones from Hideo Nomo.

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Today’s fighting words in the Ryder Cup were delivered by Jane James, wife of European captain Mark James. . . .

On the decision by American wives and girlfriends to dress uniformly while following their husbands and boyfriends, she said, “I think it’s a bit silly.” . . .

Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, who will team to represent the PGA Senior Tour in the Diners Club Matches in December at Newport Beach’s Pelican Hills Golf Club, also were paired together in the 1977 Ryder Cup against a couple of young Europeans, Jane’s husband Mark and Tommy Horton. . . .

“When I stepped up to the first tee and saw those two standing there, I was so nervous I didn’t think I could hit a fat cow’s [rear] with a banjo,” James recalled for a recently published book, “The Ryder Cup: Golf’s Greatest Event.” . . .

Nicklaus and Watson won, 5-4. . . .

James did not seem exactly suited for the European captaincy during his second Ryder Cup in ’79. According to the book by Bob Bubka and Tom Clavin, James was fined for missing meetings and refusing to wear the team uniform because he didn’t find it attractive. . . .

He was so rowdy during his early days on the European tour that he was called “Jesse James,” 180 degrees removed from U.S. captain Ben Crenshaw’s nickname of “Gentle Ben.” . . .

James is not so crazy now, although he still admits to being a “Trekkie.” . . .

The crazy one on the current European team is, not surprisingly, a Swede, but it’s not Jesper Parnevik. It’s Jarmo Sandelin, who once wore green snakeskin cowboy boots that had been converted into golf spikes.

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The verbal commitment of Cedric Bozeman, Santa Ana Mater Dei’s 6-foot-4 point guard, has potential long-range implications for UCLA. . . .

Among his close friends are Mater Dei’s 6-10 Jamal Sampson, Lakewood Mayfair’s 6-5 Josh Childress and Compton Dominguez’s 7-0 Tyson Chandler. . . .

Chandler, however, might not be destined for academia. Only a junior, he already is projected as a possible lottery pick coming out of high school. . . .

Coach Steve Lavin and assistant Michael Holton visited T.J. Cummings, son of Terry, in Homewood, Ill., this week. On Sunday, UCLA has an official visit scheduled with Chris Walton, son of Bill, in San Diego. . . .

Now that it’s clear Oscar De La Hoya isn’t going to fight at the Staples Center in the foreseeable future, the new arena’s general manager, Bobby Goldwater, should consider a main event featuring Sugar Shane Mosley. . . .

He is now the lone unbeaten welterweight from the L.A. area. . . .

If you’re not familiar with the Pomona native, check him out Saturday night on HBO in his first fight at 147 pounds. He’s fighting Wilfredo Rivera in Temecula. . . .

There have been 98 world title fights at the Great Western Forum. There won’t be a 99th, at least not under the banner of Forum Boxing Inc. Its last boxing show at the Forum is scheduled for Monday night. . . .

George C. Scott, who died Wednesday, appeared in at least three movies as a boxing trainer, among them Showtime’s “Tyson” as Cus D’Amato. . . .

Scott, however, was more of a baseball fan. When Mike Downey, now an A-section columnist for The Times, worked in sports in Detroit, he once received a two-page letter from Scott about the holes in the Tiger bullpen. . . .

Scott obviously knew his stuff. The Tigers acquired Willie Hernandez before the next season. All he did in 1984 was save 32 games, win the American League MVP and Cy Young awards and play a key role in Detroit’s World Series championship.

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While wondering if Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are paired in the same foursome today by accident, I was thinking: The Dodgers should make changes but not at first base, Steve Young is looking old on Sundays, only the poor professional golfers should be paid for playing in the Ryder Cup.

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