This Pitcher Must Live in an Avery Tower

Pitcher Steve Avery reacted indignantly when the Atlanta Braves wanted to reduce his salary 10% to $3.6 million after his 7-13 record last season.

So Avery filed for salary arbitration seeking a $200,000 raise to $4.2 million, prompting Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel to write:

“I’m starting a Steve Avery Relief Fund. Have your Visa or MasterCard handy and call 1-800-NITWIT.”

Avery had the last laugh. He got his raise in arbitration hearings.

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Trivia time: What is the Laker team record for most points scored in a game?

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Fat fancier: Seattle SuperSonic Coach George Karl on Coach Pat Riley’s edict that Miami players lose at least a pound upon their return from the All-Star break:

“I’m not a weight guy. I’ve had some of the fattest guys in basketball play for me. They played very well.”

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Shrinking man: The Indiana Pacers have been slumping lately and part of the problem is 7-foot-4 center Rik Smits. “He’s playing like he’s 6-4,” Coach Larry Brown said.

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Home sweet home: The Southern Nazarene Lady Redskins of Oklahoma City are streaking into the record book. The home winning streak reached 100 Saturday with a 77-44 victory over Lubbock Christian. No women’s college basketball team in history has won so many consecutively at home.

Saturday’s victory made Southern Nazarene only the third team to win 100 in a row at home. The Southern Idaho Junior College men won 137 in a row once, and Kentucky won 129 in a row under Adolph Rupp.

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Spring fever: Ken Daley in the Dallas Morning News: “While most pitchers and catchers began limbering up their arms this week in spring training camps, the Dodgers began stretching their mouths with an astonishing amount of trash talk pertaining to the world champion [Atlanta] Braves, against whom the Dodgers are 15-31 in the past four years.”

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Or, take a nap: When 19-year-old Kevin Garnett went to the free-throw line in the NBA rookie All-Star game, he was needled by other players.

“We were telling him he had to go home and do his homework,” Boston’s Eric Williams said. “He choked up and missed the second shot.”

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Frog kingdom: John P. Lopez in the Houston Chronicle: “Already organizing and clearing space for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, government officials are running into road blocks. Make that frog blocks.

“The rare and endangered Green and Golden Bell Frogs, indigenous to Australia, are a protected species. Anyone caught harming the frogs or their habitat is subject to up to a $150,000 fine and a two-year jail sentence.”

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Come again? New York Knick guard John Starks after a 20-point loss to Charlotte: “I’ve just got two things to say: We didn’t play hard enough.”

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Trivia answer: The Lakers had 162 against Golden State on March 19, 1972. The Lakers also set a team record with 91 points at halftime.

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Quotebook: Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues on the conditions at Miami Arena: “Talk about tough sledding. That ice makes our ice look like glass.”