Columnist Dean Juipe: 51s, Whiten part ways after fling

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.

Notes today and Mark Whiten is up first.

At the only Las Vegas 51s game I've been to so far this season, I spent the pregame portion of the afternoon at the batting cage and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Whiten knock a few balls around the yard. At 35 years old and with a wealth of major-league experience -- including an incredible four-homer game in 1993 while with St. Louis -- he looked to be a good fit with the 51s and was talkative and encouraging to his younger teammates. I asked manager Brad Mills about Whiten and he said he liked him, yet the team released Whiten this week after he hit only .160 in limited playing time. I guess that kills my plan of doing a full column on the guy someday. ... Am I missing something? President Bush is being considered for the baseball Hall of Fame by its veterans' committee?

Two of Las Vegas' pro golfers need to rally. Craig Barlow is just back out on tour after two surgeries and Edward Fryatt is not presently in the top 125 money winners, which would cost him his PGA Tour card if the end of the season were today. ... UNLV baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle wasn't kidding when he called his team's schedule "atrocious" a few weeks ago. The Rebels last played a Mountain West Conference game in Las Vegas on March 31 and won't host another one until May 10. ... Randy Johnson looks more unhittable than ever, with a 5-0 record, 1.38 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 39 innings for defending world champion Arizona. He fanned 17 Rockies in his last start. ... If Las Vegas had its NBA act together, it could have had the Charlotte Hornets. They're moving to New Orleans but don't seem too enthused about it.

I think baseball will move the Montreal Expos to Washington D.C., as opposed to following through with this contraction idea. The Expos in D.C. (or Virginia) will impact the Baltimore Orioles a bit, but the teams are in opposite leagues and the sport needs a representative in the capital. ... Tickets go on sale today in Memphis for the Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson fight, which I still think has only a 50-50 chance of actually coming off. It's $250 to sit in the back row of The Pyramid and $2,500 to sit up close, in case you're interested. ... Given that I led an informal (and unsuccessful) campaign to have Fresno State's David Carr elected last season's Heisman Trophy winner and that he was just picked first in the NFL draft, I'll say it again: He was obviously the best player in the country.

Final 2002 scoring averages for the former Rebels currently in the NBA include Shawn Marion at 19.1 for Phoenix; Keon Clark at 11.3 for Toronto; Greg Anthony at 7.9 for Chicago and then Milwaukee; Tyrone Nesby at 6.3 for Washington; and Stacey Augmon at 4.6 for Charlotte. ... The "trade" that allowed the Oakland Raiders to get four draft picks from Tampa Bay in exchange for coach Jon Gruden paid off over the weekend, as USA Today gave the Raiders five stars for their draft while the depleted Bucs got two. I liked the Raiders' end of that deal from the beginning. ... Good luck to Jerry Royster, who managed the Las Vegas Stars for three seasons and who is now the "interim" manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. While he was here we talked at length a couple of times about cracking baseball's inner circle, and now he at least gets a chance.

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