A "bad cold" forced TV announcer Vin Scully to miss the Dodgers' home opener against the Pirates yesterday, and "could result in him missing more games this week," according to Tom Hoffarth of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. The 84-year-old Scully started his 63rd season with the franchise "when the Dodgers opened the season in San Diego last weekend, but the effects of the illness that had been going around the team's roster hit him Easter Sunday." The last time Scully "missed the Dodgers' first home game of the season was in 1977, when he just joined CBS' crew covering the Masters." He has been "part of the team's first home-game broadcast 61 of the past 62 seasons." Dodgers radio announcer Charley Steiner moved from the KLAC-AM booth "to do the call Tuesday on Prime Ticket" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 4/11). In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes, "Dear Vin ... We missed you. You were absent for only your second home opener in 63 years, yet your voice here has never been louder." Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said, "Just knowing Vin wasn't in the building was really strange. I really think it took something away from the afternoon" (L.A. TIMES, 4/11). In California, Jeff Miller writes opening day "without Vin Scully is like opening day without baseball, like baseball without the baseball, like the baseball without the stitches." Miller: "We pray Vin is OK and soon because there's already enough warped with the world and with baseball. ... Vin is a link to our past even more so than Albert Pujols is a link to the Angels' future" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 4/11).
MICHAELS TO RECEIVE AWARD: NBC's Al Michaels "will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports Broadcasting" on May 10 in N.Y. The award is sponsored by Fordham Univ.'s WFUV-AM, which Scully helped form (AP, 4/10).
