Between The Lines

Don't Walk on Walker
The Expos' Larry Walker, who may have the best arm of any rightfielder in baseball, says he threw out five pitchers at first base on one-hop liners to right when he was in the minors. In an exhibition game this spring he threw out Toronto's Jimmy Key. On July 4 he gunned down Padres shortstop Tony Fernandez—"my first position player," Walker says—the game's leadoff batter. "The night before, we could have had him also, but Archi [Cianfrocco, Montreal's first baseman] didn't cover first," says Walker. "The next night Tim Wallach was at first, so I told him five minutes before the game that if it happens again, I'm throwing. Eight minutes later, it happened."

A Monkey off Two Backs
Only three pitchers in history have finished a winless season with 12 or more decisions: Terry Felton, 1982 Twins (0-13); Steve Gerkin, '45 A's (0-12); and Russ Miller, '28 Phillies (0-12). It looked as if Philadelphia's Kyle Abbott would be joining them, but after 11 losses, Abbott won for the first time this season, going 5? innings in a 14—3 defeat of the Dodgers last Saturday. The 14 runs were one more than the Phillies had scored all told in Abbott's last seven defeats. "It was a relief for him, and me," said Philadelphia pitcher Curt Schilling. "I was the only reliever to blow one of his games."

Names in the News
The following players are all on the roster of the Gulf Coast Expos, the Expos' rookie league team: Antonio Alfonseca, Nilson Carbajal, Israel Alcantara, Khary Heidelberg, Dalphie Correa, Roosevelt Hurtault, Ramsey Koeyers and Jason Thorsteinson.

By the Numbers

?Who would ever have thought that at the All-Star break Padres pitcher Bruce Hurst would have as many doubles (two) as Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell; that Oriole designated hitter Sam Horn would have more triples (one) than Oakland's Rickey Henderson or Milwaukee's Robin Yount; or that the Mariners' Omar Vizquel would be hitting 55 points higher than Boston's Wade Boggs (.318 to .263)?

?When Braves infielder Jeff Blauser hit three homers at Wrigley Field on July 12, he joined Ernie Banks, Barry Larkin and Fred Patek as the only shortstops ever to get three home runs in one game.