Notes on a Scorecard - Sept. 22, 1993

It is said that NFL officials could find a penalty to call on every play if they wanted to--and they nearly did Monday night at Kansas City. . . .

Joe Montana, 37, can still throw the ball, but I cringe every time he scrambles and gets hit hard. . . .

I can’t understand it. Dallas Cowboy running back Derrick Lassic rushes for a game-high 60 yards against the Phoenix Cardinals and gets benched. . . .

The New Orleans Saints are the highest-salaried team in the NFL. The Cincinnati Bengals are the lowest. Among the 28 teams, the Raiders are 17th and the Rams 22nd. The Cowboys jumped from 26th to 19th after signing Emmitt Smith. . . .

It is crowded at the top of the AFC West, where four teams are 2-1, and at the bottom of the NFC East, where three teams are 1-2. . . .

USC, which was last in the Pacific 10 Conference in rushing last year, has improved dramatically to ninth. . . .

The Trojans hope to make Washington State their second Cougar victim at the Coliseum on Saturday night after having previously handled Houston. . . .

Asked which Pac-10 player they would most like to have, six of the conference coaches selected USC defensive end Willie McGinest. . . .

This 0-2 UCLA team looks better than the one that started last season 3-0, but the quarterback position again appears to be a problem. . . .

Marshall Faulk is having a disappointing senior season, but the San Diego State running back is leading the nation in scoring with eight touchdowns in three games. . . .

News item: Eric Davis praises Detroit Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson for giving him a day off because of a slightly sprained groin muscle and says he used to be treated like a piece of meat. Reaction: Davis had at least 27 days off every year with the Cincinnati Reds and had 104 days off out of a possible 288 with the Dodgers. . . .

Results of the fan voting for the all-time Los Angeles Dodger team: 1B-Steve Garvey. 2B-Davey Lopes. SS-Maury Wills. 3B-Ron Cey. C-Mike Scioscia. OF-Dusty Baker, Brett Butler, Duke Snider. RH pitcher--Don Drysdale. LH pitcher--Sandy Koufax. RH reliever--Mike Marshall. LH reliever--Ron Perranoski. Manager--Tom Lasorda. . . .

How could Willie and Tommy Davis be left off? . . .

Seven years today, Fernando Valenzuela won his 20th game, a 9-2, two-hitter over the Houston Astros on Lasorda’s 59th birthday. . . .

The Dodgers are 1-0 with Pedro Martinez as their starting third baseman and 0-1 with Orel Hershiser as their starting third baseman. . . .

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So much for the Angels’ thinking that Bryan Harvey’s arm couldn’t last a full season. . . .

The New York Mets have reached the 100-loss plateau for the sixth time, but won’t challenge the club record of 120 set in 1962 by Casey Stengel’s first-year juggernaut. . . .

With fewer than two weeks remaining in his final season, Nolan Ryan has an earned-run average of 4.21 and his streak of 25 consecutive years with an ERA of lower than 4.00 is in danger. . . .

The Colorado Rockies changed the starting time of their game against San Diego to 3 p.m. Monday so it wouldn’t conflict with the telecast of the Broncos at Kansas City, but the crowd of 41,531 at Mile High Stadium still was the biggest in the major leagues that day. . . .

Glendora High guard Cameron Murray’s oral commitment to USC is the latest of several basketball recruiting wars won by L.A. schools over eastern powers after a long, unsuccessful stretch. . . .

Former UCLA swingman Mitchell Butler has been invited to the Washington Bullets’ camp as a free agent. . . .

The NHL is so happy with its instant-replay format that it is going to install cameras above the net this season. . . .

As if the Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t have enough scoring power, the signing of their top draft pick in 1991, right winger Markus Naslund of Sweden, will give them some more. . . .

The vest that saved Julie Krone from more serious injuries or even death during her spill Aug. 30 at Saratoga should be made mandatory at every racetrack in the world and the two extra pounds shouldn’t be included in a jockey’s weight. . . .

Ladbrokes in England has made defending champion Germany a 3-1 favorite to win the World Cup next year. The host United States is 50-1. . . .

National high school football polls are ridiculous. I mean, who really knows if top-ranked St. Ignatius of Cleveland is better than 19th-ranked Pine Bluff, Ark.?