Oh Well, Maybe His Brother Can Help Him Find the Bronx

The trade in which the New York Yankees sent Steve Sax to the Chicago White Sox united Melido Perez with his flashy and zany brother, Pascual, on the Yankee pitching staff.

It’s not the first time the Yankees have had a brother combination. They had Phil and Joe Niekro in 1985, Matty and Felipe Alou in 1973, Wilmer and Bobby Shantz in 1960 and, of course, Homer and Tommy Thompson in 1912. In addition, Steve Sax’s brother, Dave, is a catcher in the Yankee farm system.

It’s difficult to predict what they have in the Perez brothers. Pascual has been sidelined most of the last two years with arm problems. Melido has a 45-46 career record and was demoted from the White Sox rotation last year when he was 8-7 overall and 1-4 as a starter.

“I’m happy about the trade because I know I can be a starting pitcher,” Perez told Newsday from his home in the Dominican Republic. He is younger and quieter than his emotional brother, has no history of drug problems, as Pascual does, and generally arrives at spring training on time.

“My brother is happy,” Melido said of Pascual’s reaction to the trade. “He said I can live with him in the hen house. I said, ‘No, I find my own house.’ ”

Hen house?

“You know my brother, he’s a little crazy,” Melido said.

Trivia time: How many players do the Dodgers have remaining from the team that won the 1988 World Series?

Say what?Seattle Seahawk owner Ken Behring told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that Chuck Knox’s departure as Seahawk coach stemmed from philosophical differences.

“My philosophy is you play to win,” Behring said. “Chuck’s philosophy is a little more to play not to lose. The end result is the same, but there’s a little difference in philosophy.”

NCAA agenda: The recent convention in Anaheim produced votes on some significant items and some not so significant.

Consider: Division I schools voted to eliminate the use of toll-free numbers by schools in the recruiting process. They also rejected a proposal that would have allowed an unlimited number of telephone calls to football recruits between Dec. 1 and Feb. 15 instead of one call per week, as mandated a year ago in legislation developed by the NCAA Presidents Commission.

The next great NCAA debate? “What did they say about faxes?” Georgia Athletic Director Vince Dooley asked.

Bad rap?That’s what rap star Hammer believes Mike Rozier, the Atlanta Falcons’ tailback, is attempting to hand him. Rozier was held out of last week’s playoff game with the Washington Redskins after missing the team’s charter flight to Washington and then breaking curfew on the night before the game. Rozier said he missed curfew because he was with Hammer, who offered some different lyrics.

“If Mike Rozier says he was with me, I feel sorry for him,” said Hammer, a Falcon fan who said he was with Deion Sanders and Andre Rison, neither of whom missed curfew, on the night before the game. “(Rozier’s) got some personal problems that he’d better take care of. In this case, he was obviously trying to use me as a scapegoat, and I’m not going to let that happen.”

Trivia answer: Five--Orel Hershiser, Jay Howell, Tim Crews, Mike Scioscia and Jeff Hamilton.

Quotebook: Michael Jordan, on his winning basket in the 1982 NCAA championship game for North Carolina: “Ever since I made that shot, everything has just fallen into place for me.”