Cheap Seats

There’s no pitching in golf, or A.L.

After opening the year 1-3 with a 9.89 ERA through seven starts, Anaheim Angels pitcher Tim Belcher appears to have righted himself. The right-hander was 2-1 with a 3.98 ERA in his last three starts through the end of last week.

“I looked at the calendar and realized how long the season was,” Belcher said. “I had to realize that I wasn’t going to get my ERA down in one or two starts. I just had to peck away at it.”

Not that Belcher is putting much stock in earned-run average in the modern American League.

“Really, what does ERA mean anymore? Honestly?” Belcher asked. “We’re playing in smaller parks, the guys are huge and they’re hitting Titleists.”

Junior achievement

Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. entered the weekend leading the major leagues with 19 home runs, putting him on a pace (that he will not discuss) for 67 homers.

Griffey, however, will discuss the influence of the crowd Wednesday at the Metrodome, when he slammed a ball into the upper deck above right field, to the delight of many children in the Minnesota Twins’ Kids’ Day crowd of 17,002.

“The kids got me excited to play,” said Griffey, a father of two. “It’s fun to play in front of 40,000 fans, or 50,000. But nothing’s better than to hear all those little voices in the stands cheering. It’s like playing on a playground.”

For Seattle’s upcoming July 2-4 visit to The Ballpark in Arlington, the Rangers are believed to be hurriedly scheduling the following promotions: the Retiree Roundup, Child Muzzle Night and the Geriatric Jubilee.

Redefining history

How big was Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the final of the European Champions Cup in Barcelona, Spain.

The London tabloid Daily Mail termed it “football’s equivalent of turning water into wine” and judged the game “the most dramatic night ever for British football” as substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in injury time.

There was no shortage of hyperbole as another tabloid, the Daily Mirror, went so far as to describe the triumph in a banner front-page headline as “The greatest 2 minutes in the history of sport.”

Would you buy a used car from these guys?

Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle writing on the NFL owners’ indecision in awarding a 32nd franchise:

“You have to keep reminding yourself that this is a weird breed with which we are dealing. F. Scott Fitzgerald said the rich are different from you and me, and the 31 owners of the NFL are different from most of the rich - stubborn, cliquish, bloodless.

“Al Davis, Bud Adams, Bill Bidwill and the like. This is the strangest collection of life forms outside of the bar scene in the original `Star Wars.”’

Drive safely, please!

NBC’s Conan O’Brien on Mike Tyson’s release from prison:

“Tyson doesn’t say who he’ll fight next, but experts say it will be either Evander Holyfield or some guy who cuts him off in traffic.”

The last word …

“We’re at a point where it feels good to win a game; last year it felt good to win 10 in a row.” - New York Yankees pitcher David Cone on his struggling team