Royals on Pace to Give Wathan a Pacemaker

The Kansas City Royals won 84 games last season, but the figure might have been much higher had the Royals not lost 47 games by one or two runs.

So, how has Kansas City started 1989?

“We’ve played four straight one-run games, and I just don’t think my heart can take much more,” Royal Manager John Wathan said Friday night.

Wathan will have to get used to it. Kansas City made it five straight Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox in 10 innings.

Trivia: Which NHL club has the longest active streak for participating in the playoffs?

Catchy: Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Junior Ortiz selected 0 as his new number after giving up his old number, 26, to newly acquired pitcher Neal Heaton.

Ortiz rationalized: “Any time you want anything, what do you do? You dial 0.”

Mark his words: “The purses are so big out

here now that the money-winning list doesn’t mean anything,” said golfer Mark Calcavecchia.

“In two or three years, $1 million might be the crummiest purse we have.”

Back, way back: Seventy-six years ago today, Ebbets Field was opened in Brooklyn, and the Philadelphia Phillies spoiled the inaugural by defeating the Dodgers, 1-0.

Off the air: Phoenix radio announcer Al McCoy came down with laryngitis and failed to work the Suns’ game in Seattle last Thursday.

All of which doesn’t mean a thing, except that missing the game broke McCoy’s streak of 1,463 consecutive broadcasts. Until then, he had worked every Phoenix regular-season and playoff game since joining the club 17 years ago.

Trivia answer: The Boston Bruins, who are taking part in the playoffs for the 22nd straight season.

Quotebook: Said Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers: “It’s not the crowd or anything that gets me going. I’m thinking about the raise I’m getting after this year. That’s what drives me.”