BETWEEN THE LINES THE FIRING SQUAD

One advance scout's list of the American League's hardest
throwers after clocking every pitcher for half a season:
Roger Clemens, Boston, 98 mph; Timothy Leary, Milwaukee, 95; Bobby
Witt and Edwin Correa, Texas, 94; Don Aase, Baltimore, 93-94; Bob
James, Chicago, Jose Rijo, Oakland, Matt Young, Seattle, Dan Plesac,
Milwaukee and Dave Stewart, Oakland, 93.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
-- ''I'd rather ride the buses managing in Triple A than be a
lawyer.'' -- Attorney-manager Tony La Russa.
-- ''I've been doing my best not to think about it, but by trying
so hard not to think about it, I can't stop thinking about it.'' --
Yankee shortstop Paul Zuvella during an 0-for-28 start. A high
school valedictorian, he graduated from Stanford as a
communications major.
THE FUTURE AMBASSADOR
TO CANADA
Upon leaving Toronto for Atlanta, Doyle Alexander, who had been
critical of the Jays management in his campaign to be traded, handed
a handwritten statement to a writer for the Toronto Sun to augment
the quotes he had earlier given reporters. The statement read in
part:
''Reasons for leaving Toronto:
''The ball club made no changes to improve the team over the
winter of 1985-1986. Other Eastern Division clubs made changes to
improve their club. In my mind, it is doubtful the Toronto Blue Jays
can repeat as Eastern Division champions.
''Money! On July 1, 1986, a new Canadian federal tax law came in
effect, creating an effective tax bracket of approximately 59
percent. Tax shelters not advisable in Canada because of their high
risk nature. Foreign tax credit offsets only about 70 percent paid in
Canadian taxes. A pending United States tax law will institute a flat
27 percent maximum tax.
''Ball club decisions -- has there ever been a game called because
of wet or cold weather? Does a player's safety or level of
performance ever mean more than one daily attendance?''
Blue Jays catcher Buck Martinez commented, ''We didn't need to
listen to all his crap. If he doesn't want to play in Toronto, who
cares? Who cares if he wasn't coming back next season? He should have
put a line on top of that list saying, 'For anybody who gives a
damn.' ''
BASEBALL'S PYTHAGORAS
Seattle outfielder Barry Bonnell looked up at Fenway's Green
Monster, decided he wanted to know how far it is to the screen, did
the geometry with his bat in the dirt and calculated that the
distance is 317.165 feet.
MISCELLANEOUS
-- Dave Kingman has hit 12 homers in 72 career at bats in Fenway
Park.
-- In 1985, Kurt Kepshire won 10 games for the Cardinals. This
season, after a 1-9 start at Louisville, he was demoted to their
Double A Arkansas team.
-- Minnesota's Bert Blyleven, who had given up 30 homers by the
All-Star break, could break both the American League record of 43
(Pedro Ramos, Washington, 1957) and the major league mark of 46
(Robin Roberts, Philadelphia, 1956).
-- The Phillies, who in a five-week stretch failed on seven
straight occasions to reach the .500 mark, finally made it on July 8
-- then lost two and fell back under. July 8 was manager John
Felske's second day over .500 in two years.
-- The Orioles have set a club record with 10 disabled-list moves
that involved nine players.
-- In a nine-run, 14-batter sixth inning on July 10, the only
Yankee to hit into an out was Don Mattingly. He grounded into a
double play; then Gary Roenicke was picked off by the Twins' Mark
Portugal to end the inning.
-- Rick Honeycutt reached the All-Star break with a better earned
run average (2.09) than fellow Dodger starters Fernando Valenzuela,
Orel Hershiser and Bob Welch.
-- In 1985, UC Berkeley third baseman Lance Blankenship was
selected in the second round by Boston and offered $62,500. He
turned it down to return to school, hoping to become a 1st-round
pick. The A's took him in the 10th round this June and signed him for
$2,500.

BOX: BALLPARK FIGURES
The 11th-longest consecutive-game streak in history ended at 740
last week when Atlanta centerfielder Dale Murphy sat out the Braves'
7-3 win over the Phillies. Here are the longest current streaks on
each team:
AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE
Baltimore, Cal Ripken 690 Atlanta, Ken Oberkfell
32
Boston, Don Baylor 114 Chicago, Keith Moreland
44
California, Wally Joyner 87 Cincinnati, Ron Oester
27
Chicago, Harold Baines 46 Houston, Kevin Bass 57
Cleveland, Joe Carter 82 Los Angeles, Steve Sax
75
Detroit, Alan Trammell 45 Montreal, Tim Wallach
79
Kansas City, Steve Balboni 49 New York, Mookie Wilson
16
Milwaukee, Robin Yount 21 Philadelphia, Mike Schmidt
101
Minnesota, Kirby Puckett 169 Pittsburgh, Johnny Ray
26
New York, Don Mattingly 209 St. Louis, Terry Pendleton
176
Oakland, Alfredo Griffin 263 San Diego, Steve Garvey
257
Seattle, Harold Reynolds 57 San Francisco, Jose Uribe
89
Texas, Scott Fletcher 43
Toronto, Tony Fernandez 253