Lasorda Undergoes Angioplasty After Heart Attack

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda was stricken with a heart attack and underwent angioplasty Wednesday to unclog a heart artery.

Lasorda, 68, had the procedure at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in nearby Inglewood, Calif. Doctors do not know precisely when the heart attack happened, but his cardiologist said his heart is now working “very well.”

Lasorda, initially thought to be suffering solely from an ulcer, is expected to be hospitalized for several days. It is not immediately clear how long he will be away from the team.

“You’d have to say that it was a heart attack,” Dr. Anthony Reid said. “There was a small amount of heart muscle damage. Fortunately, the artery that was involved was still open and there was blood being received by heart muscle.”

Lasorda was in distress from a stomach ulcer, and team physician Dr. Michael Mellman, an internist, said additional tests showed a heart problem and a blockage of the distal right coronary artery. The blockage was opened by angioplasty.

Debates taken to field

That old debate about who’s better - Yankees or Mets, Cubs or White Sox - will move to the field for the first time next June.

According to a draft schedule obtained by the Associated Press, the New York Mets will play a three-game series at Yankee Stadium starting June 16. That same night, the Chicago Cubs will open a three-game series against the White Sox at Comiskey Park.

A third regular-season neighborhood rivalry created by interleague play - this one a two-game series between the California Angels and Los Angeles - also will debut that night at Dodger Stadium.

Because interleague play is still subject to an agreement between owners and the players’ association, the leagues are drawing up schedules with and without interleague play.

Injury spurs on curiosity

Baltimore Orioles general manager Pat Gillick said he intends to call the Montreal Expos and ask club officials there if they were aware of the severity of Tony Tarasco’s shoulder injury when they traded him to the Orioles in March. Tarasco, a 25-year-old outfielder acquired for Sherman Obando, had arthroscopic shoulder surgery Monday and is out for the year. Before the deal, Gillick said, the Orioles asked about soreness in Tarasco’s shoulder and were told he was suffering from typical spring training tendinitis.

Generous donation

Seeking to secure the future of a “treasured community asset,” the Bradley Foundation offered a $20 million loan toward construction of a new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers have struggled for months to obtain their $90 million share toward the cost of a $250 million retractable-roof stadium with luxury boxes they say they need to survive in Milwaukee.