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Who Set This Deal Up, Jerry Maguire?

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Times Staff Writer

The Lake Elsinore Storm has planned a salute to Tom Cruise tonight during its California League baseball game.

Besides giving away a Cruise bobblehead -- make that a “bobble-couch,” depicting the star in full Oprah couch-jumping mode -- the San Diego Padres’ Class-A affiliate will celebrate the “silent birth” of Tom and Katie Holmes’ baby, Suri, with a “silent inning,” during which no batters will be announced and no music played. “Silent birth,” a Church of Scientology teaching, specifies no music and no talking during the birth.

Other planned activities include a couch-jumping contest, a Scientology information and sign-up booth and a retrospective of Cruise’s movie career.

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The Storm’s opponent? The High Desert Mavericks, of course. No doubt in honor of Cruise’s character in “Top Gun.”

Trivia time: The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which opened in 1923, was designed by architect John Parkinson and his son, Donald. What other L.A. landmark buildings did Parkinson & Parkinson design?

Double the pleasure: During the NCAA basketball committee meetings this week in Orlando, some prominent coaches pushed for the men’s tournament to increase from 65 to 128 teams.

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Wrote Greg Cote in the Miami Herald: “Welcome to MarchAprilandMay Madness!”

Welcomed return: Pitcher Pedro Martinez received a standing ovation during the New York Mets’ visit to Boston’s Fenway Park -- unlike another former Red Sox player, Johnny Damon, who is regularly booed for jumping to the Yankees.

“He went to the wrong uniform,” said Martinez, who had a 58-18 record with Boston. “Thank God I didn’t have to make the same mistake.”

It didn’t hurt Martinez’s appeal, however, when he got clobbered for eight runs in three innings in a 10-2 loss Wednesday.

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Check the chads: On complaints of unfair officiating during the Miami Heat’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, comedian Argus Hamilton said, “There was some evidence the playoffs are rigged. During all three games in Miami they were keeping score with punch cards.”

Shotgun start: After learning that Vice President Dick Cheney planned to make an appearance Saturday at the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway, Dwight Perry wrote in the Seattle Times: “NASCAR security, taking no chances, immediately ordered the garage area cleared of all double-barreled carburetors.”

Looking back: On this day in 1962, the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax struck out 13 Mets while pitching the first of his four no-hitters, a 5-0 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Trivia answer: Among the father and son’s impressive roster are the original USC campus, from 1919 through 1939; Los Angeles City Hall, with assistance in 1928; the Bullocks-Wilshire building in 1929, and Union Station in 1939.

And finally: Wrote Peter McEntegart at SI.com: “Wimbledon officials are warning women players that they will be forbidden to wear low-cut tops. The goal is to put the focus back where it should be -- on the short skirts.”

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