Nomar and pals to play in Las Vegas

By Ron Kantowski

Sunday, June 29, 2008 | 11:07 p.m.

NOW:

The Dodgers and six other guys will play the Salt Lake Bees at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Cashman Field.

Actually, it's just infielders Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra and outfielder Andruw Jones who are scheduled to join the Las Vegas 51s for major league rehabilitation assignments. But it's such a big deal for the 51s that they trumpeted the news on their Web site with an exclamation mark.

Furcal was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lower back on May 13. In 32 games for the Dodgers he is batting .366 with 12 doubles, 5 home runs, 16 RBI and 8 stolen bases.

Garciaparra was placed on the 15-day disabled list April 26 with a strained left calf. He was then transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list on May 25.

Jones, a 10-time consecutive Gold Glove winner (1998-2007) in center field, was placed on the 15-day disabled list May 25 with torn cartilage in the right knee.

In limited duty with the Dodgers, Garciaparra (.226) and Jones (.165) are still trying to hit their way out of an Albertson's shopping bag.

Having the three stars in the 51s' batting order -- if indeed it happens -- will almost be as huge as dollar beer night at Cashman Field.

Almost.

----- A Casino Named Sue. That's what Wynn Las Vegas is, at least when it comes to NBA stars who don't pay their bills. In a variation of a Wynn-Wynn situation, the hotel-casino first sued Charles Barkley to recoup a gambling debt and is now suing Alonzo Mourning to recover $50,000 it claims it is owed after letting Mourning's Florida-based charity hold a billiards tournament and silent auction on property during NBA All-Star weekend. If I'm Will Perdue and I checked out of the Wynn without paying for a bottle of Miller High Life taken from the in-room refrigerator, I'm sending a check for a six-pack today.

----- I guess the morning paper never heard of a "spoiler" warning, which is what people do on the Internet when they don't want to reveal the outcome of a movie plot or how a book ends or something similar that would spoil the experience for other readers. A sidebar on the World Series of Golf held recently at Paiute Golf Resort said the tournament would air on Channel 8 at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. That was the first paragraph. In the second paragraph, it said Andrew Johnson, a 36-year-old car salesman from Michigan, had won the $250,000 first prize. No what am I am supposed to do with this six-pack of Milwaukee's Best and Talladega speedway-sized bag of pork rinds?

----- How to describe boxer David Diaz's face after Manny Pacquiao got done carving it up at Mandalay Bay Saturday night ... well, if you handed Stevie Wonder a Gillette Mach 3 and told him to trim his sideburns, his mug wouldn't have looked as bad as Diaz's after nine rounds with the Pacman.

THEN:

Words of advice: If you play Wiffle ball in your step grandfather’s front yard, and instead of a fence in right field there is a vegetable garden, and if you go the other way and belt a prodigious home run into the tomato plants, do not -- I repeat -- do not trample the tomato plants when you retrieve the ball.

If you do, your step grandfather will get very upset.