GOTT BLAMES PROVO WEATHER FOR BAD START; SPARKY PREDICTS HURST WILL BE `ORDINARY'

Since local baseball fans by now are positively aching for some word on how major league baseball players with Utah ties are doing, here are a few highlights and lowlights:

- Pittsburgh's bullpen stopper, Jim Gott, is blaming the weather at his offseason Provo home for his slow start in spring training. After compiling a 14.40 ERA in his first four exhibition relief appearances, the right-handed Gott said: "I didn't get the opportunity to throw as much because of the weather. We had a lot of snow. Playing catch in the snow is one thing; airing it out in the snow is another thing. I've felt behind arm strength-wise ever since I got here."- Oft-outspoken Jack Morris of the Tigers is bitter about Detroit's recent trading of veteran infielder Tom Brookens for minor league infielder Mike Brumley.

"If a team is a body, we still have the heart but we don't have any lungs," Morris said. "Tommy and Darrell Evans (released by Detroit and signed by Atlanta) epitomized the spirit of this team and they're both gone. They talk about loyalty. They crapped on Tommy for nine years, then they trade him.

"(Tigers' owner) Tom Monaghan just sold something a lot more valuable than any Bugatti."

- Cleveland's Cory Snyder figures this is the year he proves that he's worth big bucks. After the 1989 season, the slugging right fielder becomes eligible for salary arbitration, and he's hoping big numbers in 1989 will result in a major pay raise from the $185,000 he made in 1988.

Snyder had his best season last year, raising his average to .272 from 1987's paltry .236 while racking up 26 homers, 75 RBI and reducing his strikeouts from 166 to 101. He also led all American League outfielders in assists with 16.

"I'm not looking for a whole bunch," he said. "I know I'm not going to get what a (Mike) Greenwell or (Mark) McGwire got. They got great contracts. But they earned them with great years. I just want them to be fair with me.

"It would be easy to put too much pressure on myself because of it. I've just got to try to be consistent and let whatever happens happen."

Amen, Cory. Remember Wally Joyner, who looked forward to last season for the same reason, only to have the worst year of his career.

- Atlanta's Dale Murphy opened the exhibition season with 3 hits in 18 at-bats, pretty close to the way he was hitting at the end of last season. And in the beginning and middle, too. But he's not worried. "I've never thought that what I do in the spring affects what happens once the season starts," he said.