Morgan Not High on Dodgers

ESPN will televise Sunday’s game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, although the Dodger team Joe Morgan has seen so far sounds better suited for ESPN Classic.

“They’re going to have to have good pitching, because I don’t think their offense is going to do a lot,” said Morgan, the network’s lead baseball analyst. “Their pitching looks pretty good right now. After the first series with the Giants, when the Giants beat them up a little bit, they won four in a row with their pitching--their starting pitching [didn’t give up] a run in [30] innings.

“So their starting pitching is looking good. But the thing is, how many runs are they going to be able to manufacture and score? They have some speed at the top of the lineup, which I like.... But the problem is, I just don’t know how many runs they’re going to score. They only have [six] home runs, which is not very many home runs in this day and age.”

Good pitching, good baserunning, little power, lots of low-scoring games.

Sounds like a scouting report of the 1966 Dodgers ... minus, of course, Wes Parker, Maury Wills, Willie Davis and John Roseboro.

The 2002 Dodger defense is adequate, Morgan says, but not nearly strong enough to carry a limited batting order past San Francisco and Arizona in the National League West.

“Their defense is not the best,” he said. “If your defense is not great, it will hurt your pitching over the course of a long, 162-game season.”

Morgan also questions the Gary Sheffield trade, which he believes has stranded Shawn Green in the middle of the Dodger batting order.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult for Shawn Green this year,” he said. “He doesn’t have Gary Sheffield behind him. Gary, they can say whatever they want, but Green was able to do a lot of the things that he did because Gary Sheffield was coming up next. When they got behind, 2-and-0 or 3-and-1, they threw him a fastball because they didn’t want Gary to hit a two-run homer if they walked [Green]. This year, they’re not doing that. They don’t care if they walk him.

“That’s nothing against Brian Jordan, who’s a very fine player. But, let’s face it, Gary Sheffield is one of the top power players in the whole game. I’ve already seen the difference. I’ve watched how they pitch to Shawn Green as opposed to the way they pitched him last year. I think it’s going to be very difficult for him to hit 40-plus home runs this year.”

Did the Dodgers make a mistake trading Sheffield?

“It depends on why you got rid of him,” Morgan said. “If you got rid of him because you thought Brian Jordan and Odalis Perez were better for your team, then that’s fine. But if you got rid of him because he had complained about a few things, then I don’t think that’s right.

“I think in this day and age, players have a right to speak up when they think something is wrong, as long as they produce on the field. And he definitely produced on the field for the Dodgers. And he made the guys around him better....

“I guess my point is, I wouldn’t have traded him. But I’m not in charge.”

More Masters

Finally, golf fans will be able to watch all 18 holes of Sunday’s final round of the Masters. And for that, they can thank the weather.

Two years ago, rain delayed the third round of the Masters long enough that the leaders did not tee off until CBS came on the air. CBS was able to cover the leaders on every hole until darkness suspended play at the 15th hole. Public response to the coverage was enough to persuade Masters officials to allow the network to televise an extra 90 minutes of the final round this year.

“Part of the reason the club feels comfortable now with the 18-hole coverage was because the coverage that Saturday was so positive,” CBS Sports President Sean McManus said.

Instead of its customary 1 p.m. West Coast start time, CBS will begin Sunday’s telecast at 11:30 a.m.

Host Jim Nantz believes the so-called “Tiger-proofing” of the course is a misnomer, the changes instead making defending champion Tiger Woods, one of longest hitters on the tour, even more difficult to beat.

“The course has been lengthened by almost 300 yards,” Nantz noted. “There’s been a lot of speculation--is this something to try to ‘Tiger-proof’ Augusta, to make it harder for him to win?

“The reality is, if anybody plays golf on a serious basis, they would know that ... the longer you make a course, it will only play into Tiger’s hands. It should favor Tiger, if anything.

“My biggest concern for him, if I’m a Tiger Woods fan and wanting to see him win this weekend, is his putting. He has not been putting this year leading up to the Masters like the Tiger we know.”

Putting has also been a problem for Phil Mickelson, continuing his long-running quest to finally win a major championship.

“Mickelson has had a four-putt and a five-putt in his last two tournaments,” Nantz said. “This guy, who has tremendous length [and] a reputation for being one of the great short-game artists in the game today, really has some issues with his putting. I think his putting is overrated.”

That said, Nantz offered this prediction before the tournament began:

“[Mickelson] is going to win a green jacket one day. I saw him at the Final Four on Monday night, at the championship game. In our exchange there, we made a tentative agreement to see one another at 7 o’clock on Sunday at the Butler Cabin.

“I think there’s a strong chance, what I’m saying, that Mickelson might find a way to put it all together.”

Shaq Logic

Shaquille O’Neal appeared on HBO’s “On the Record With Bob Costas” Thursday night, tackling such topics as the new NBA rules (and their effect in cramping his style), his foul shooting, how the current Lakers would match up against the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls and his relationship with Phil Jackson. Some highlights:

Bob Costas: “Who plays you tough but fair?”

O’Neal: “No one. According to the new rules they set, no one plays me tough but fair.”

Costas: “If they call the game the way you think it should be called, what would you average?”

O’Neal: “Forty-five. The reason why I say I average 45 is I shoot nothing but high-percentage shots.... If I concentrated and hit my free throws, I’d probably average 50.”

Costas: “What do you think these Lakers would have done against Michael Jordan’s Bulls of the mid-’90s?”

O’Neal: “We would have beat them. We’d match up with them very well and we’d overpower them at the big-man spot.”

O’Neal is better-versed in the intricacies of the NBA than the U.S. government, as evidenced by his take on his relationship with Jackson:

“He’s President Bush and I’m Dick Cheney. We may have some heated arguments about what should go on, but he’s the boss and I’m the vice president. He runs the Senate. I run the Army.”

Costas: “What’s Kobe [Bryant], the secretary of state?”

O’Neal: “Exactly. He’s next in line.”

The show will be re-broadcast tonight at midnight.