Notes on a Scorecard - May 25, 1993

That was some opportunity the Cincinnati Reds gave Tony Perez. . . .

Walter Alston managed 3,657 regular-season games for the Dodgers. Tom Lasorda has managed 2,581 games. Perez managed 44 games for the Reds before he was fired Monday. . . .

Surprise, surprise: The Dodger bullpen--which has gotten only 1 2/3 innings of work from Todd Worrell, the closer who was supposed to be the ace--led the National League in earned-run average at the start of the week and was the only relief corps not to have blown a save opportunity. . . .

The Dodgers are starting to be rewarded for their patience with Jose Offerman. . . .

Offerman is showing signs of the form at the plate that earned him 1990 minor league player-of-the-year honors from the Sporting News. . . .

Tim Wallach to his right and Jody Reed to his left have helped stabilize Offerman’s performance at shortstop. . . .

If John Olerud hits .400, he might win the major league batting title over Barry Bonds. . . .

Among those making this the year of the comeback are Kirk Gibson, Bo Jackson and Mike Witt. . . .

Some of the fans who attended a Colorado Rockies’ game over the weekend will return to Dodger Stadium to see the Florida Marlins play June 7 or 8 so they can boast that they have seen every team in the major leagues. . . .

Terrell Lowery, former Loyola Marymount basketball and baseball player, is off to a good start with the Texas Rangers’ farm club at Port Charlotte in the Florida State League. . . .

Ryan McGuire update: The Bruin first baseman set a school record for runs batted in with 89 in 56 games. The old mark of 83 was set by 1990 NCAA player-of-the-year Paul Ellis, who is a catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals’ farm system. . . .

Ryan Lefebvre, son of former Dodger Jim, broke Paul Molitor’s stolen-base record at the University of Minnesota. . . .

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Jesse Ferguson, who froze before being knocked out by Riddick Bowe in the second round, is one of the few athletes to admit that he choked. . . .

If he ever fights Lennox Lewis for the undisputed heavyweight title, Bowe, who weighed a none-too-svelte 244 Saturday, ought to rehire nutritionist Dick Gregory. . . .

Tommy Morrison, not George Foreman, has been doing most of the selling for their June 7 bout at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. . . .

The Kings never have been very good at the important art of the faceoff. . . .

Neither Marcel Dionne nor Butch Goring won a lot of draws. Wayne Gretzky isn’t any better. The club’s best probably was Steve Kasper, who was traded to Philadelphia in the 1991 deal that brought the Kings the rights to Jari Kurri. . . .

Roy Story, who announced King games one season and is remembered for his full-throated “Shot on goal!”, is living in Palm Springs and interested in returning to hockey broadcasting. . . .

“Just when I thought it was safe to attend a hockey game in Southern California . . . “ ESPN announcer Tom Mees said upon spotting an Elvis impersonator before Game 4 of the King-Toronto series Sunday at the Forum. . . .

Among those projected to be high picks in the 1994 NHL draft are right wingers Brett Lindros, brother of Eric, and Alexandr Kharlamov, son of the late Soviet star. . . .

Did you notice that the New York Knicks committed only 22 personal fouls, compared to 26 for the Chicago Bulls Sunday? . . .

Shaquille O’Neal, Anfernee Hardaway and former Indiana center Matt Nover are recruited by Nick Nolte, coach of the Western University Dolphins, in the motion picture “Blue Chips.” . . .

Don Nelson is so eager to draft Shawn Bradley that Golden State probably would be willing to trade Tim Hardaway or Chris Mullin and the No. 3 pick to Orlando for the No. 1. Then the Magic would select either Jamal Mashburn or Anfernee Hardaway. . . .

Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser suggests that the Bullets trade their first-round draft pick, No. 6 overall, and Harvey Grant to the Clippers for Danny Manning. . . .

I wonder if Pat Riley will get any royalties from the use of three-peat if Jim Courier wins the French Open again.