Play Ball

You don't have to be a big baseball fan to be excited about the upcoming sound-track album to "Bull Durham," the film starring Kevin Costner that opens July 19. But it would probably help. Especially since the album is a rock rotisserie-league fan's delight, including such pop sandlot epics as "Centerfield" by John Fogerty and "Love Ain't No Triple Play," performed by Bonnie Raitt with Dr. John and Bennie Wallace.

Throughout AEG's efforts to secure city approval for its proposed downtown football stadium, the presence of CEO Tim Leiweke has been regarded as an asset - he's forged strong relationships with elected officials and organized labor, and those connections have helped overcome some of the reservations local leaders have regarding Phil Anschutz, the conservative Denver billionaire who sits atop AEG's parent company. On Thursday, with Leiweke and the company parting ways, supporters tried to argue that this change helps the stadium deal too, because Leiweke's leaving is part of AEG's decision to take the company off the market, thus ending some of the uncertainty around its possible sale.

Avalon city officials promise they won't pipe "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" through the hallowed halls of their new City Hall--even if the building will sit on the old spring training home of the Chicago Cubs. The floor plans are now being designed for the $500,000 building on Las Casitas Ball Field, which is owned by the Santa Catalina Island Co., a holding of the Wrigley family that once owned the Chicago Cubs. The team stopped using the field for spring training in the 1940s.

Mike D'Antoni hobbled to his first news conference as the Lakers coach. He used a crutch on his left side, still recovering from knee-replacement surgery. Then he spoke about the need to be strong. He wasn't the popular choice among Lakers fans, finishing a distant second to Phil Jackson, but he wasn't the one receiving a midnight call from General Manager Mitch Kupchak last Sunday. “We're built to win this year. This is not a project,” D'Antoni said Thursday. “We have a window.” It's a short one, with an aging roster and thinning patience among fans who expected a roaring start, not a 3-5 record and a sagging offense.

Our local major league teams, the Dodgers and the Angels, are scheduled to take the field tonight in the first game of the traditional Freeway Series, the final exhibition games before the start of baseball season. But who are these guys? With the baseball strike still unsettled, it looks as if a bunch of unknowns, has-beens and wanna-bes wearing major league uniforms will stand in for real players on opening day.

The 12 Little Leagues in the Valley send all-star teams in four age groups to District 40 tournaments that begin today from Woodland Hills to Canyon Country. The tournament for 11- to 12-year-olds leads to the World Series in Williamsport, Pa., and is the one most people associate with Little League. But tournaments also are held for 9- to 10-year-olds, 13-year-olds and 14- to 15-year-olds.

A Superior Court judge took time out Wednesday from the usual murders, robberies and multimillion-dollar civil suits to rule on whether the Verdugo and Vaquero all-stars get to play for their district Little League championship, even if they did violate some adults' regulations. After a 25-minute hearing, His Honor ruled: Play ball. Superior Court Judge S.

The return of baseball each winter, heralded by tidbits of news from distant training camps, seems to satisfy some basic need in the American mind and heart. But this appetite for the national pastime has gone unfulfilled this year as the impasse between the players' union and owners over a new labor contract has dragged on.

Alan Alda just does it. Tennis. Golf. Basketball. Apnea. Apnea? That's what the French call the sport of holding one's breath under water. And Alda does it. For one minute and 45 seconds, which is pretty good after just a little training but doesn't begin to compare with the seven minutes the champion breath-holders can manage. Thanks to science and technology, those times are becoming longer. And that's where Alda comes in, as host of tonight's "Scientific American Frontiers" (10 p.m.

Expressing gratitude to "our loyal, patient and knowledgeable fans"--who ate it up like cotton candy and welcomed back the players like long-lost loves--the Florida Marlins and visiting Dodgers began the meagerly awaited 1995 baseball season at Joe Robbie Stadium Tuesday night, relieved by their reception. "Feels good to hear cheers," Terry Pendleton said. "I'd hate to be hated," agreed Marlin teammate Gary Sheffield. And they were the home team.

Ervin Santana kept his demons hidden through five innings. Detroit Tigers slugger Prince Fielder then showed up waving a bat and all you-know-what broke loose again. For the 10th time this season, Santana surrendered multiple home runs, this time consecutive blasts by Fielder and Delmon Young in the sixth inning, and the Tigers beat the Angels, 5-2, at Comerica Park. "Just two mistakes," Angels catcher Chris Iannetta said of Santana's seven-inning outing. "He tried to go down and away and it was down and in, not a good location for Fielder.

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) is getting lots of press this week, just not the kind that a candidate running for reelection might hope to attract. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Ethics recommended Richardson be reprimanded for violating codes of ethics and standards of conduct and fined $10,000. The committee concluded that Richardson pressured her legislative staff to work on her campaign, often against their will. Richardson is running against Rep. Janice Hahn in the newly created 44 th Congressional District that stretches from San Pedro to Watts and across to South Gate.

Reaching the major leagues is no walk in the park for even the most gifted of athletes, but for Dodgers pitcher Shawn Tolleson, the road was especially rocky. Growing up in Dallas, Tolleson played travel baseball with current Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw and Angels reliever Jordan Walden. Among a trio of future major leaguers, it was Tolleson — not Kershaw, a 2011 Cy Young award winner — who was regarded as having the brightest future. "Tolleson was actually one of the best pitchers I've ever seen coming up," Walden said.

Call it perfect timing in the era of BBCOR bats. Top-seeded Orange Lutheran has put together a baseball team that relies on pitching, defense, bunting and finding ways to score without the aid of a home run. It has led the Lancers (23-4) into the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs after a 7-2 win over Vista Murrieta in a second-round game Tuesday at Hart Park. Six of their 10 hits Tuesday were infield singles. Conner Sullivan, who had three singles, started the game sliding into first base to beat out a ball that pitcher Jeff Moberg couldn't handle.

Re "Ball fields at Griffith Park? Not a hit with everybody," May 6 Natural areas are increasingly hard to find because of development. Developing Griffith Park further by putting in more baseball fields would degrade the park's remaining natural areas. There are plenty of places baseball can be played. Suggesting that kids from downtown L.A. come to Griffith Park to play baseball makes no sense. If they are going to travel so far, then they can travel a similar distance to a school that has a field and play there.

Less than 24 hours after the NBA announced it was canceling the first two weeks of the season because no collective bargaining agreement had been reached, several locked-out NBA players were playing pickup games at Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, looking to stay in shape while assessing the situation. Al Harrington of the Denver Nuggets, Corey Maggette of the Charlotte Bobcats and Earl Watson of the Utah Jazz said their support for their union remains steadfast. The players also spoke of how the lockout, now in its fourth month, is hurting other people dependent upon the NBA for their livelihood.

In the waning days of the season, there was more bad news for the Angels and their leading run producer, Mark Trumbo . A series of tests Monday revealed a stress fracture of the navicular bone in the right foot of the rookie first baseman, an injury that will not require surgery but will keep Trumbo out of the lineup for the last games of the season. "Of course I'm disappointed, but it's one of those things," said Trumbo, who arrived at Angel Stadium as his teammates took the field for batting practice before Monday night's game against Texas.